


Aniki Swap

by looker



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Body Swap AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-15 06:34:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 53,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4596531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/looker/pseuds/looker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After ruining Saiou's prized tarot cards, Manjoume and Judai find themselves in QUITE the predicament...!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tuttle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuttle/gifts).



> This is a fic originally posted on FF.net, now crossposted to here.
> 
> It is not canon compliant and exists in a void of time after season 2.
> 
> It was written by two authors and is a little disjointed as a result and it's probably best not to take it too seriously or hold it to high standards.

It was a beautiful day at Duel School. Saiou was spending one of his last afternoons there, telling his own fortune while he waited for his sister to come pick him up. She had told him she would be there around three, but the cards told him that traffic was awful and she would probably be like, thirty minutes late. Typical.

While he was waiting there, Chronos showed up, obviously wantin to keep an eye on him. After all just days before he had been brainwashing dudes and ranting about how good the light was. As he was reading Chronos's fortune on a lil table they'd set up on the lawn, Judai and Manjoume burst in. "Mamma mia!" Chronos yelled as they bowled right over the table, sending it flying and Saiou's cards scattering all over the lawn. Saiou really did overreact, IMO (in Manjoume's opinion). It wasn't like the grass was wet or anything. They'd probably just smell a lil like grass. And that was only if you put them right up to your nose and sniffed. Which Saiou probably did. Saiou was weird. Manjoume thought he saw a few tears slip down his face as he picked up his muddled deck. Saiou looked up at them with an angry expression, which made Manjoume a lil uncomfortable. What the hell man?

"Signore Judai! Signore Manjoume! What on earth do you think you're doing!" Chronos continued, glaring at the students. "I was just about to hear about my love life!"

"Sorry," Judai said, but he didn't look very sorry.

Manjoume grit his teeth so hard they flattened down to nubs. "Judai won't leave me alone! Everywhere I go, he's there, following me! Chronos, can't you tell him to BACK OFF!"

"I just want to duel," Judai said. He still didn't look sorry.

"Haven't you two dueled ENOUGH," Chronos yelled, still angry about his fortune getting interrupted. "Shoo, shoo, get out of here, get back to your rooms before I send you both to detention!"

Judai didn't seem too motivated to leave despite the threat, looking at the cards Saiou was picking up with obvious interest, but Manjoume yanked him by the arm and led him away, obviously not willing to ruin his GLORIOUS REPUTATION with a detention over something so stupid like that.

"Oh well," Judai said as he was dragged along, "At least we'll have plenty of time to duel back at the dorm, Manjoume!"

"NO DUELING," Chronos shouted in the distance, "GORGONZOLA CHEESE!"

"Those two….." Saiou muttered under his breath, catching Chronos' attention. His hands trembled as he spoke, almost sending his tarot cards back to the ground by his knees. "Those two have defiled my perfect cards….."

"They'll be punished, Signore Saiou," Chronos said, crossing his arms and letting out a huff. "They're always getting into trouble. They are from Osiris Red, after all-"

"No," Saiou said, looking off in the distance, where he could just make out Manjoume and Judai's forms walking away. He did that stupid half smile, half crying-face thing. "Their punishment will be much more severe than a few days of no duelling. Much more severe."  
Chronos was confused. What could possibly be more severe than a ban on dueling? Whatever. He didn't really care about it that much, as long as this stupid looking cat man finished telling his fortune. "Now, shall we continue my reading, Signore Saiou?"

Manjoume flopped back onto his bed. He had managed to get a room at the blue dorms again after staying at the red dorms for so long. Never again would he suffer finding Judai and his stupid friends sitting in his living room.

As he lay there, he found himself getting very sleepy - he supposed nearly beating up Judai so many times in one day could take it out of anybody. He had no idea why that idiot was so thirsty for a duel today, but he was not having it. Ever since he had been saved from Saiou's brainwashing scheme, his deck had been a little wonky and he hadn't had time to fix it just yet. He refused to duel Judai until his deck was top notch, so he could wipe the floor with his sorry ass.

As if they knew that he was thinking about his deck, the Ojama Trio appeared, hovering over his chest and looking down at him with their beady eyes.

"Aniki, you look so worn out~" Ojama Yellow said, pouting.

"Shut up," Manjoume muttered. He couldn't even find enough energy to muster a glare, which he found odd.

"You aren't lookin so good, buddy," Ojama Black said, floating down and poking at Manjoume's face. "You gettin' sick?"

"Stop touching me," Manjoume spat weakly. He found himself dozing off despite the Ojama Trio yelling to each other about him. "Just shut up already…"

"Aniki!"

"...Aniki!"

"I said SHUT UP!" Manjoume cried, sitting up too fast and cracking his forehead onto something above his bed. He fell back onto his bed, groaning and rubbing at his head.

"Well GEEZ! If you're gonna be that rude then I'm not going to wake you up for class anymore, and you're just going to be late everyday and FAIL," a voice Manjoume recognized said. "Or at least more than you already do."

"Don't be mean to aniki," another voice growled.

"I'm not mean! Without me, he'd sleep in everyday!"

"You just don't understand him. If you truly saw him as your aniki, then you'd appreciate his ways, not try to change them!"

"Oh, whatever…"

Manjoume opened his eyes blearily, wondering just what the hell was going on here. He went to roll over, but instead of finding more of his king sized bed to either side of him, he fell straight onto the floor.

"Man, what's wrong with you today," the second voice said. A shoe nudged at Manjoume's shoulder.

Manjoume sat up, rubbing at his poor head. He looked up at the person who had been nudging him with a scowl. "Don't dirty me with your shoes-"

His command stopped completely. Kenzan Tyranno was looking down at him with a confused expression. Marufuji Shou was at the door, pulling his very tiny sneakers onto his very tiny feet. Kenzan extended a hand to help Manjoume up, but Manjoume slapped it away, frowning.

"Why am I here?"

"What are you talking about, aniki?" Kenzan asked, looking very obviously hurt by Manjoume slapping him away.

"We're going to be late," Shou whined.

Manjoume got to his feet and looked around. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his room - there was no plausible way that he could have gotten here without his knowledge. This had to be some kinda joke. Judai was probably behind this, that asshole….

"Where's Judai?" He asked. Kenzan made a face. Even Shou looked over his shoulder with an odd expression. Manjoume wondered what was wrong with them. He knew they were dumb for being Judai's friends, but he didn't know they were this dumb… "Don't look at me like that, you idiots. Where's Judai? Why am I here?"

"Maybe he's still asleep?" Kenzan said, looking over to Shou, who was becoming more and more concerned. The small boy came over and waved his hand in front of Manjoume's face.

Manjoume backed away from him. Alright, enough of these nerds. "Fine, if you won't tell me, I'll go find him myself." He pushed past them and went to the door. His shoes weren't at the doorstop, which was weird, but whatever - he left the dorm room without any shoes on. As he made his way towards the stairs, he caught a brief reflection of himself in a window, which he didn't think anything of until he had gone down the entire flight of stairs. With a feeling of dread filling him, he tore back up the stairs and returned to the window, staring at himself.

Shou and Kenzan cautiously came out of the room and, while keeping a safe distance between them and Manjoume, observed him. "Maybe he's sick…" Shou said, sounding like he was on the verge of tears. "Aniki…."

"Should we get Ayukawa?" Kenzan asked quietly, sounding about on the verge of tears himself.

"Good idea!" Shou said before running off towards the school. Kenzan stayed, watching Manjoume carefully.

Manjoume was still glued to the window, staring at his reflection. No, it wasn't HIS reflection. He raised a shaking hand and touched his cheek slightly. Upon feeling contact, he let out a scream, stumbling backwards and nearly flipping over the railing and falling down to the ground. Kenzan rushed over to him, but Manjoume pushed him away with hands that weren't his own, and then ran back to the window with legs that weren't his own.

He looked again at the reflection, and with a sick feeling, slumped to his knees.

Somehow, he had become….Judai?!


	2. The Bad Man in Pyjamas

Manjoume was now laid up in his, no, Judai’s bed. Kenzan had thrown him over his shoulder and ran back into that stupid Judai’s dorm room and fluffed stupid Judai’s pillows and then slam dunked Manjoume into stupid Judai’s bed and trapped him underneath Judai’s stupid blankets. 

As Kenzan paced the room, waiting for Ayukawa and Shou to return, Manjoume sat and wondered just what the FUCK was going on here. So, what, he had woken up as Judai? Was this some kind of twisted nightmare? Why would his subconscious do this to him? What a cruel joke.

He pinched himself beneath the covers. It hurt, but he still wasn’t convinced that he wasn’t asleep. After all, people didn’t just...swap bodies like that.

Actually, he hadn’t even considered that Judai may possibly be in his body. He felt furious knowing that Judai would be out there somewhere wreaking havoc in his body. Unfortunately, that stupid dinosaur kid wasn’t going to let him leave easily.  
The door to the dorm opened and a little parade of people entered. Judai’s little friend Shou, Ayukawa, and then Asuka Tenjoin entered. Manjoume felt a fluttering in his stomach upon seeing Asuka, but he was immediately barraged with questions from Ayukawa. 

“What seems to be bothering you, Judai?”

“I’m not Judai.”

“Hmm,” she said, looking down at her clipboard. “And you’ve been thinking that since this morning?”

“I’ve been thinking that since I was born,” Manjoume snapped. He was thankful for it every day, too.

“Well,” Ayukawa said, sounding smarmy, as though she couldn’t WAIT to hear what he’d say to this next question. “Who are you then?”

“Manjoume,” he said. He was rapidly using patience. He was too hot under the covers and Judai’s stupid hair made his forehead feel all hot, like he had a fever. “THE Manjoume. Manjoume Thunder. Manjoume Jun.”

“Oh, you poor boy,” the nurse said. She pushed his- Judai’s- bangs back to feel his forehead. “You’re burning up. It’s no wonder you believe something like that.”

Manjoume glared at her, but his anger disappeared when he heard Tenjouin clear her throat. He looked up at her, his eyes all like ♥______♥ as he did. 

“If Judai thinks he’s Manjoume,” she said, “Maybe we should bring Manjoume here. I think I saw him at the store this morning.”

His beloved Tenjouin-kun!! He should have known she’d come to his rescue!!!!! But after he’d processed her words, his good mood rapidly faded. He- Manjoume?- was at the store? Just WHAT did Judai think he was doing?!?! While he was being manhandled by Judai’s stupid dino friend and being treated like he was crazy, Judai was out having a good time?!?! this was unacceptable

Ayukawa seemed hesitant to go along with Asuka’s idea. “I don’t know,” she said, “It might distress him more than he already is. I think he needs bed rest, and to sweat out his fever. Kenzan, Shou,” she turned to those DORKS, “Please take care of Judai. I’ll make sure your teachers know why you can’t attend class.”

They both nodded, and Manjoume groaned inwardly, knowing that there would soon be arguments about who would get to take care of him. Which were totally unnecessary. He didn’t need to be looked after - he wasn’t crazy, after all, and the only reason he was sweating was because he’d been firmly tucked in under three blankets with his pyjamas on.   
Ayukawa and Asuka prepared to leave. As the Obelisk Blue girl passed his bed he reached out and grabbed her arms, his palms sweaty. How embarrassing. But it wasn’t that bad, cuz his palms were usually sweaty when he talked to Asuka, cuz she was just soooooo pretty.

“Tenjouin-kun,” he said, “Tenjouin-kun, please bring Judai here.”

She made no effort to acknowledge him, despite his please. She slipped her hand out of his (which was easy, bc they were covered in sweat and therefore quite slippery, like two pale fish) and exited the room. Manjoume looked to his hand, which just for a moment she’d held onto (or so he liked to think), and then let it drop back onto the bed beside him. For now, Tenjouin was his only hope.

“Jeez, aniki,” Kenzan said, dropping down onto the bed beside him. He had a damp cloth which he wiped Manjoume’s forehead with as he talked. “You gave us a real scare there! If you’re not feeling well, you’ve gotta tell us!”

Manjoume wanted to tell him to shut up, but the cool cloth felt nice, so he let him jabber away for the moment. 

“Aniki!” Shou had decided to join in in givin him some TLC apparently, and he shoved a pill against Manjoume’s lips. “Take this! It’ll help with the fever!”

Ordinarily, Manjoume was against taking mysterious pills shoved into his mouth, but he swallowed it anyway. If it killed him, at least he wouldn’t have to live another moment as Judai. 

Kenzan was peeling back the blankets that covered him, and Manjoume sighed as fresh air reached his… general… chest area… making him feel a little cooler. But then he heard Kenzan unfasten his pyjamas, and jumped as the cloth wiped across his collar bone.

“Wh-what are you doing?!” He stammered, snatching at his pyjamas and tugging them closed across his chest. Kenzan looked confused, and a lil hurt.

“Aniki, you’re covered in sweat!” He said, looking like a puppy who has just been kicked. “If we don’t get you washed, you’re going to catch a cold! Can you even have a cold and a fever at the same time? I don’t know, but I bet it’s dangerous!”

“It’s VERY dangerous!” Shou shouted, snatching the cloth away from Kenzan. “Come on, aniki! We need to get you cleaned up! You could DIE!”

Manjoume was at least grateful it was Shou who was attempting to tear off his shirt, and not Kenzan. Kenzan was easily strong enough to manage if he tried - Shou was less capable, and it didn’t take much of Manjoume’s strength to shove him off the bed. 

“Is THIS what you people do in your free time?!” Manjoume gasped, scandalised, and squirmed away from them, his arms hugging his own body protectively. “STRIP each other? If I need to wash, I’ll go to the bath-” Kenzan and Shou’s mouths opened, but quickly shut when he added. “By MYSELF.”

“But aniki,” Kenzan whined, “I wash your back all the time!”

“I don’t need to know! I don’t WANT to know! Keep that kind of thing to yourself!” Manjoume somehow managed to squeeze past the two and off the bed, and he snacked a towel from the pile of fresh laundry as he left. “Do NOT follow me! I can bathe myself, you know!”

He stomped down to the bathhouse, intending to wash and then GTFO of there. When he got in, though, he went to undress, and then… stopped.

He felt himself blushing again. What was wrong with him?!?! It had to be Judai’s body because he knew for a fact that he, Manjoume Thunder, NEVER blushed. 

He couldn’t think why he’d be blushing, though. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen Judai in various states of undress before - they shared a dorm together, and they had bathed together and went swimming together. So why was this so embarrassing? It had to be the fever. The fever that he was alternatively denying having and placing the blame on depending on which was more convenient. He was NOT afraid to see Judai naked, despite how horrific his body might be. In one swift movement, he tore off ALL of his clothes, and then quickly averted his eyes and wrapped a towel around his waist. 

He threw open the door to the bath, and nearly fell over at what he saw. Relaxin, chillaxin in the tub was HIMSELF! No, it was JUDAI - that pesky JUDAI - sitting in shoulder deep water and eating rice balls!!!!!!!!!!  
Judai was humming to himself as Manjoume stormed up to him. When he opened his eyes to take a bite out of the rice ball in his left hand - he had one in each hand, the gluttonous bastard - he noticed Manjoume and smiled mischieviously.

“Oh, hey,” Judai said. Manjoume hated hearing his own voice like this. What he hated MORE was Judai acting like nothing happened!!!

“Judai, what kind of voodoo magic have you cast on us,” Manjoume asked, his fists trembling at his sides. Judai chowed down on the rice ball until it was completely gone as Manjoume fumed angrily. “Judai!!!”

“I don’t really know what’s going on,” Judai said, standing up to get out of the bath. Manjoume felt embarrassed to see his nude body for a split second before realizing it was his own, then quickly had to think fast as Judai threw his other rice ball at him. He fumbled with it as Judai wrapped a towel around himself. “I woke up in your blue dorm - you blue’s really live it up, huh?”

“Of course we do,” Manjoume spat. “We’re the best.”

Judai shrugged, raising his eyebrows. Manjoume bristled, nearly squashing the rice ball. “Anywayyy, I woke up and was super hungry, so I spent all the money in your jacket pockets on food. Hope you don’t mind.” Judai pointed to the half smashed rice ball in Manjoume’s hand. “That’s the last one - you can have it. Aren’t I generous?”

Why in the fresh HELL was Judai acting like this was NBD (that stands for no big duel I mean deal)????? He looked down at the rice ball angrily. Was this his way of saying, hey, I’m sorry that we swapped bodies and am ruining your life, lol? He had half a mind to throw it onto the bath floor, but that would be disgusting, so instead he just ate it.

As he did so, Judai went to leave the bathhouse, forcing Manjoume to follow after him. “Judai!! Where do you think you’re going!!!”

“Gotta get to school,” Judai said, whipping off the towel and going to get changed. Manjoume averted his eyes, despite it being his OWN body in front of him - this was just TOO weird. He looked back once Judai had pulled some underwear on - at least he properly dressed himself that morning. “You have a kinda good reputation right?”

“How are you so comfortable with this?!” Manjoume yelled, feeling exasperated. “You’re acting like this is normal!! All of your stupid friends are acting like I’m crazy!!”

“I’m sure if you had friends, they’d be worried if you started acting weird too,” Judai said a little sassily. “Luckily I was able to spend all your money on food without anyone noticing!” Manjoume inhaled deeply, choosing to ignore that, as much as he would love to punch Judai for it. 

“But what are we going to do about this?!” Manjoume felt himself getting more desperate. “I really don’t want to be you, Judai. I barely want to see you on a regular basis.”  
Judai made some gross expression, a very sad one, an expression that Manjoume did NOT appreciate being made with HIS face. “How mean! We’re friends.”

“Judai,” Manjoume growled.

With a sigh, Judai shrugged on Manjoume’s signature black jacket. “Listen, Manjoume, I have no idea how this happened. I went back to my dorm after Chronos yelled at us, just like you did, and I fell asleep, and when I woke up, the Ojama trio was sitting on my chest and calling me aniki! I’m as lost as you.”

Manjoume was at a loss as Judai went to leave. When he opened the door, two people who had been creeping at the door tumbled in. “Oww,” Shou wailed, wriggling underneath Kenzan. “Get off of me, you’re heavy!!”  
Kenzan quickly stood up and looked guiltily at Judai. “Sorry, aniki...we were worried, so we followed you anyway…”

Shou sniffed at the air. “It smells like rice in here…”

Manjoume looked at Judai, who was barely containing his laughter. He wanted to wipe that smile right off the other boy’s face. But before he could act on that, Judai waved over his shoulder, exiting the bathhouse. “See you in class, Judai!”  
Manjoume went to run after him but was caught by Shou and Kenzan, who dragged him towards the bath. Manjoume struggled, but eventually let them just carry him in. What the hell, let them do what they want...stupid Judai’s friends…

He swore that he’d get to the bottom of this body swap as Shou and Kenzan scrubbed at his shoulders. He’d go to class, and corner Judai, and together they’d find a way to reverse this.


	3. Chapter 3

Manjoume really hated the Osiris Red uniform. It felt heavier than the Obelisk Blue one, like it was made out of cheap fabric. Of course, the Obelisk Blue uniform was made of 100% beautiful silk. Everyone knew that.

Manjoume found himself continually tugging at the bulky sleeves of the red uniform, because they felt so weird on his wrists. He kind of wanted to push them up to his elbows, but that would be…….well, it would probably be something Judai would do actually, but not something Manjoume THUNDER would do!

Throughout Professor Chronos’s lecture, he fiddled with the uniform as Shou and Kenzan watched him worriedly. Judai sat a few rows back, dozing off every so often, much to Manjoume’s displeasure. He was going to RUIN his reputation!

Down behind the podium, Chronos watched them curiously. Mama mia, he thought, pursing his elegantly lipstick applied lips. What is happening with those two?

He had overheard Ayukawa speaking with another teacher about Judai acting strangely, and he sure was. But what she hadn’t mentioned was Manjoume’s off behavior as well. After all, Manjoume NEVER slept during lectures, because he liked having those straight As. Chronos, while maybe being a goofy guy, was no stupid guy, and could definitely tell something weird was going on.

Could it be…?!?! He thought dramatically as he remembered the day before, when Saiou had mentioned something about a severe punishment… After seeing all the students of Obelisk Blue become slaves to that guy’s army of evil dudes, Chronos did not doubt his power. Still, it seemed so far fetched……...well, what the hell did he have to lose by asking them?

“Signore Judai, Signore Manjoume,” Chronos called out, catching them both off guard. “I’d like to speak to both of you after class, na no ne.”

Judai let out a groan, which caused a ripple of uncomfortable laughter around him, because Manjoume would never loudly complain about something like that. Manjoume, of course, nodded briskly, the thought of being in trouble just making him angrier than he already was.   
As the students filed out of the classroom after the lecture was over, Chronos waited at the podium for Judai and Manjoume to come down to him. When they did, and they were up close, Chronos could DEFINITELY tell something was up. Judai would never look that angry, and Manjoume would never look that chillaxed.

“Gorgonzola cheese…” Chronos muttered, shaking his head at them. “I can’t believe it! What has Saiou done to you two?”

“Saiou?” Manjoume said, frowning. What had he-

Wait!!!!

“Chronos!!” Manjoume gasped. “You know what happened to us!! You believe us!!”

Judai nodded sagely. “Was it after we messed up his tarot cards?”

Manjoume looked over at Judai and scowled. How the hell was that guy being so calm? And how did he even REMEMBER that? It had been such a stupid thing.

“I knew something was wrong with you two as soon as I saw you,” Chronos said, smiling a little smugly to himself. Well, after I heard Ayukawa mention Judai’s behavior… “Saiou mentioned something about punishing you two after you so rudely RUINED my reading, but to think he’d actually go through with it! Mama mia!!!”

“Do you know where he is?” Manjoume asked. If he could get his OWN body back, TODAY, it would make his life. He’d only been out of his body for not even a day and he already wanted back in.

Now was time for the bad news. “Unfortunately, boys, I think Saiou left with his sister after finishing my tarot reading yesterday...and I don’t have any way of contacting them!”

Manjoume scowled. So much for HELPING them!!! He was suddenly alerted by the feeling of hands grabbin at his butt, and he nearly laid a fierce punch into Judai’s face until he realized that Judai had been fishing a cellphone out of Manjoume’s back pocket. manjoume hadn’t even realized there had  been a phone there. He hadn’t even realized that Judai had a phone. Who would he call? His mom? heh

“Don’t worry,” Judai said, flicking through his contacts quickly. “I have Edo’s number, I’m sure he can contact Saiou.”

Manjoume had forgotten about that gray haired loser. Unsurprisingly, actually, because he was kind of forgettable. Judai put the phone on speaker, which made both Chronos and Manjoume a little awkward, because, uh, who wants to talk to Edo? Not them.

There was static after the initial ringing, but then Edo’s voice came through the speakers. “Hello? Judai? What do you want? I’m very busy-”

“Edo, do you think-”

“Who is this?”

“Oh,” Judai frowned. “It’s Manjoume.”

“I see. And why are you calling me on Judai’s phone? This better be important.”

“Are you at the Big Duel Competition?”

“Uh, yes. I am a champion after all. Fourth only after the legends.”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” Judai gushed, smiling fondly at the phone even though Edo couldn’t see him. Manjoume grimaced - disgusting. He elbowed Judai sharply and Judai nodded, getting back on track. “Um, do you know how we can get in touch with Saiou? It’s kind of important.”

There was a silence on the other side of the phone for a couple seconds. Manjoume worried that they had gotten disconnected somehow, but then Edo spoke again. “Manjoume, I’m beginning to wonder just what your intentions are. Didn’t Saiou just leave your school yesterday?” There was another pause. “No, I do not have a way of contacting Saiou at the moment.”

“This is really important!” Manjoume yelled, tearing the phone out of Judai’s hands. “Get your head out of your ass and tell us how to talk to Saiou!! It’s an EMERGENCY!”

“Judai?” Edo asked, voice full of shock from hearing the normally happy voice being so angry. “I’m sorry, but Saiou and his sister will be travelling for a bit, and contact will be touchy for at least a week, if not longer. I’ll also be busy with this competition for a while, so...lay off the phone calls.”

“Why was he so much nicer to you?” Judai muttered sadly.

Manjoume shot Judai a glare. This was making Manjoume anxious - a week? MINIMUM? Of being JUDAI? It made his skin crawl. “Are you sure it’ll be a week? No sooner?”

“Probably much later,” Edo said. “Can we end this? Sorry, I’m on for an interview in five-”

“Whatever, bye, thanks for the help, NOT,” Manjoume spat, ending the call. He stood there, gripping the phone in his hand, for a good five seconds before Judai slipped the phone out of his vice-like grip.

Judai gave him a look. “He could have helped.”

“He wasn’t going to,” Manjoume hissed. “So, what? We have to stay like this for a week?” He set his jaw. This was so not totally okay, but he guessed that he’d have to fuckin DEAL. “Fine. But if we have to, then we’re going to have to act like each other. I’ll have to teach you about what it takes to be Manjoume Thunder.”

Judai laughed heartily, much to Manjoume’s despair. “What do you mean, teach? My Manjoume impression is spot on! See, look-” He took on a serious expression and cleared his throat, before yelling, “YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO! ONE! TEN! HUNDRED! THOUSAND!!!!”

“Manjoume Thunder!” Chronos cheered. They had forgotten he was there. So had Chronos. So had I.

“That was awful,” Manjoume hissed.

“I thought it was molto buono, Signore Judai,” Chronos said, clapping his hands together. Manjoume snorted in disgust. Whatever. He would NEVER sound that dorky while doing his awesome Manjoume Thunder routine. If Judai went around doing that, they’d be found out in a day.

“After school today, I’m going to teach you how to properly be THE Manjoume Thunder,” Manjoume said, knowing that he had to teach this numbskull quick and fast. “And you’ll teach me how to be Judai - not that that’s hard, lol.”

Judai frowned. What was that supposed to mean? But Manjoume had already stalked off, not willing to miss a class just because of this body swap nonsense. Gotta get those As


	4. Chapter 4

At dinner in the red dorms (Manjoume had taken a liking to the food there, besides being stuck in an Osiris Red students body), Manjoume slid into the seat across from Judai. The other boy was stuffing his face, enjoying the food a little too much. Manjoume felt a little sick while watching him.

Before Manjoume had a chance to talk to Judai about how to act more like himself, he was squashed on the bench by Shou and Kenzan on either side of him.

“Aniki!” Shou said excitedly, already scarfing his food down. “It feels like we haven’t seen each other all day.”

“Yeah,” Kenzan said, looking worried. “Are you feeling any better?”

“Uh, I’m fine,” Manjoume said. He had to act somewhat like Judai, he guessed… “Do you guys mind, I’m trying to talk to-”

“Here, Aniki, I know you love the shrimp,” Shou said, looking chipper after hearing that Manjoume (Judai) was feeling better.

Judai reached forward to take it, smiling at the smaller boy. “Thanks, Shou.”

They all froze. Shou and Kenzan looked at each other in confusion. Manjoume scowled at Judai, who looked a little shocked himself, like he had forgotten that he was Manjoume now.

“You can have it, Manjoume,” Manjoume said through clenched teeth. He forced a smile as Judai cautiously took it from Shou, who still seemed confused.

“Did you get sick too, Manjoume?” Kenzan laughed nervously, looking between Manjoume and Judai. “Responding to aniki like that…”

The Ojama trio appeared out of nowhere, glaring at Kenzan with the heat of a thousand blazing suns. “Of course he responded to Aniki, you dinosaur nerd!!!” Ojama green bellowed, barreling towards Kenzan and then passing through his head because he was a duel spirit. Ojama Green, not Kenzan

“He’s a better aniki than YOURS!!” Ojama Yellow stuck his tongue out at Shou.

Manjoume frowned. “Hey, you three…”

“Thanks buds!” Judai laughed, reaching down onto his plate and lifting up some food for them. “Here, eat some. I got extra just for you guys!”

“Rub a dub dub time for the grub,” Ojama Black said, diving right into the rice. It was a perfect 9 point dive.

Judai laughed, and Shou and Kenzan exchanged worried looks. Even if they knew about the existence of the Legendary Ojama Trio, it was weird to see Manjoume laughing and smiling at their invisible antics instead of swatting them away and insulting them. Manjoume wrinkled his nose as Judai fed them specks of rice from his fingers (where did the rice GO ? Good question. thanks.) and his stomach bunched up in disgust as he saw Judai return the grateful lil jojama kisses they gave him in return. Judai was going to ruin his COOL and MYSTERIOUS reputation!

“I’m going to bed,” he said, shoving his seat away from the table and standing up. He had homework, but he was just going to go STRAIGHT TO BED. That’d show Judai, failing Chronos’s class. Again. Actually, it probably wouldn’t show him, because he failed it constantly anyway. Maybe he should do it, and fill in all of the answers WRONG, just to show him.

“Aniki?” Shou said. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he snapped. “Never been better.” He looked back, over his shoulder. “Well? Are you coming with me, you trash?”

Kenzan and Shou looked at him like ????, unaware that it was the ojama trio he was talking to. How awkward. Ojama Yellow looked back to him, wringing his hands together. “We-e-e-ell… aniki…” he began. “It’s just, we probably SHOULD stay with Judai… he has our cards, after all…”

“Right,” Green nodded, his tongue lolling about as he did so. “Besides, Judai Aniki is SO much nicer!” Black said, and Judai laughed as Green and Black hugged his face, one on each side. Yellow at least had the mind to look guilty before he joined in.

“Whatever,” Manjoume said, and turned on his heel. “Not like I wanted you to come, anyway,” he muttered, and before he slammed the door he heard Shou and Kenzan arguing about which of them he’d been asking to come with him. Was he the only cool, intelligent, smart, sane person in this entire dormitory?!?!

* * *

 

 

The next morning, Manjoume was woken up by Judai’s obnoxious voice- well, his obnoxious voice (wait, no, he didn’t think HIS voice was obnoxious, but Judai speaking in it def. was)- as he crashed into their dorm room, completely unannounced. He heard Shou tiredly ask “Manjoume?” from the bed above him, and he groaned, rolling over - careful not to fall out the bed this time.

“What the hell do you want?” He snapped. Judai looked wounded, and he was clutching his cell phone, his hand placed over it to muffle the sounds around them.

“It’s Saiou!” Judai huffed, “Don’t be rude, or I’ll hang up.”

“No!” Manjoume said, scrambling out of bed, “No, don’t! Give me the phone!”

Judai held it out of his reach, and looked to Shou. “Could you give us some privacy?”

Shou looked suspicious. He did not seem to like what was goin on here, and he seemed to like getting orders from “Manjoume” even less.

“What? Why? Why is Saiou on the phone? What does he want? Aniki-”

“GET OUT,” Manjoume yelled, and Shou slunk out of the room. There was no sign of Kenzan, which Manjoume was thankful for. He looked back to Judai. “Put him on speaker.”

Judai fiddled with the phone and put it on the bedside table.

“Saiou!” He said, sounding far too bright for someone who was stuck in someone else’s body. Also for it being super early in the morning. What the hell. Hadn’t Saiou heard of waiting til nine to call anyone? “Hey, guess what, I’ve got Manjoume here-”

“SAIOUUUUU,” Manjoume yelled, grabbing the phone from the table and yelling into it. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”

“Ah, good morning, Manjoume,” Saiou said. “Keep it down, please. I’m not meant to be calling you.”

“You’d better get back here and fix this,” Manjoume said.

“Oh, but focus on getting better,” Judai cut in, grinning like an idiot. Manjoume glared at him.

“I’m afraid getting back to the academy any time soon would be, uh, impossible,” Saiou said. “My recovery has seen me travelling a little further away than I’d like. But Edo and Judai inform me that you’ve found yourselves in QUITE the predicament.”

Manjoume ground his teeth together so hard they ground down into lil nubs. Again. They’d grown back since last time. Don’t ask me now.

“So what are we meant to DO? I can’t stay like this, Saiou. If I stay like this a moment longer, I’ll kill myself.”

“Now now, there’s no need to be so dramatic,” Saiou said, and Manjoume wanted to shout about how it was ridiculous for someone who had enslaved half their school in a brainwashing scheme for evil to be giving him life tips, but he stayed quiet. “I’m afraid I’m not quite sure how to undo all this, but there must be a way. This morning, I consulted the cards.”

“Your stupid cards are what caused this!” Manjoume felt close to screaming.

Judai tugged at his sleeve, “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t antagonize the only guy capable of fixing this…”

“Thank you, Judai,” Saiou said. “As I said, I have consulted the cards. And would you believe, the lovers lies face up in both of your futures!”

Manjoumes face lit up. So all he had to do to reverse this was fall in love? That would be easy. If Asuka knew what he was going through, she was SURE to fall for him. He did not think twice about how pathetic that thought was, or how cheesy Saiou’s solution to all this was. If he was a lil more sensible, he might think that this was all just saiou bullshittin to stop them bothering him, but Manjoume is not a clever person, and he did not think that. BEsides, even if it is cheesy, it is OUR story, and we can do whatever we want. Including this cheap plot device to get the yaois to happen. So there.

“Lovers?” Judai said. “There’s only one lover for me, and that’s fair lady Duel!”

“Yes,” Saiou said, clearly not sure what to say after that. “Okay. Well. Anyway. Good luck with all this - and sorry about it happening. Really. My humblest apologies. But if you had had a little more respect for the cards, maybe all this wouldn’t have happened…”

“Saiou?” The fourth voice that joined them came from the other end of the line, and Saiou’s voice dropped to a hushed whisper as he spoke next.

“Anyway, I’d better go,” he mumbled, “Good luck.”

Saiou hung up just as they heard his sister shout on him again. He was probably in the dog house now, which was ironic bc he was a cat man. Idk why that’s ironic. anyway

“How am I supposed to find a girl to love me if I’ve got YOUR face?” Manjoume turned to the only mirror in the room, looking at it woefully. Judai’s face was so WEIRD, and his obsession with duelling… yikes. Manjoume looked back to the mirror, trying desperately to do SOMETHING with Judai’s hair. No matter how much he tried to scrape it forward and up into his usually style, though, it fell back into Judai’s deplorable style. His efforts stopped when Judai reached around him to pinch his cheeks.

“Hey, you’ve got it easy,” Judai said. “I am one handsome devil!”

“Are you saying I’m not handsome?” Manjoume’s words were a little garbled, what with Judai grabbing at his face and all. He swatted him away, then stood. “Whatever. We need to get to class.”

A glance out of the room confirmed that Shou’s shoes were gone from beside the door of the dorm. They were already running late, so presumably he’d gone ahead. Glancing at the clock, Manjoume muttered in annoyance under his breath. Even if people thought he was Judai now, he didn’t want to make a habit out of being late. He grabbed Judai’s ugly red uniform off of the chair where he’d left it folded last night, and moved to pull his pyjamas off - then turned to Judai.

“Good thing I brought my clothes too, huh?” He grinned, lifting up a bag. Manjoume hadn’t even thought about how he’d been in the 100% SILK PYJAMAS he owned. He must have just run over when Saiou had called, but at least he’d had the dignity to put the long trenchcoat he wore over them. Manjoume felt a pang of sadness as he saw his old friend, Ugly Tattered Trench Coat.

“Do you mind? I’m going to get changed,” Manjoume muttered, “I’m trying to get changed.”

“It’s my body. It’s not like I haven’t seen it before,” Judai said, and Manjoume hated to admit that it made sense.

“I don’t care. I’m in it, and I don’t want you looking at me naked, you creep,” he snapped back. Snap back. Like the hat. “Go and get changed in the bathroom or something.”

“Fiiiiiiine.” Judai traipsed out of the room, slamming the door behind him, and Manjoume breathed a sigh of relief. Now he was free to get changed into the Osiris red uniform, at least - though he wasn’t happy about it. He didn’t think he’d get used to how stiff and scratchy the material was.

With that done, he pulled on his average-sized sneakers onto average-sized feet, and headed out of the dorm. Today marked the beginning of the wackiest love adventure of Jun Manjoume’s life!!!

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

Manjoume STRUT onto campus like a rooster onto a farmyard of hens, scoping out for hot babs. Lucky for him, Obelisk Blue was filled to the brim with em. However, UNLUCKILY for him, he was stuck in the body of a lowly Osiris Red dude. Even the lowliest babe would not even give him a passing glance.

Also, talking to girls made Manjoume a little nervous. Whenever they looked at him, he got a little tongue tied and then everything just went downhill. Ladies man he was not, as much as he disliked this fact.

The best way he knew to get attention was to have a duel. That usually got him attention, and friends, in the past, so he decided that was his best bet. He walked towards a crowd of people, tapping some lowly Ra Yellow chump on the shoulder.

“Let’s duel, nerd-” he began, but the chump shut him up with a harsh “shhh! you’re interrupting the duel!”

A duel? This early in the morning? Not initiated by Manjoume Thunder? Manjoume scowled, pushing past the chump and making his way through the crowd to the front of it.

His jaw dropped when he saw himself, well, Judai, at one end of the duel and some Obelisk Blue guy Manjoume didn’t even recognize on the other. He watched as Judai played with his deck effortlessly. He was owning that deck. He was working that deck so skillfully that it made Manjoume frustrated to watch him. Judai was getting his hands all over his deck. His deck was going to be all dirty after this. He’d have to clean his deck at least five times. Not just anyone played with his deck like that. Especially not Judai. Not even Manjoume handled his deck like that. Who the hell did Judai think he was? Judai summoned the Ojama Trio.

“Wow,” a girl near Manjoume cooed to her friend. “That Manjoume, has he always been so...handsome?”

Yes, Manjoume thought immediately. Smugly.

“Something’s different about him,” her friend responded, giving ol’ Judai the lookover. Technically it was Manjoume’s body, so Manjoume felt a little proud of himself. Also a little embarrassed. He blushed a lil. “He looks so...so much happier, I guess? Less like he has a stick up his ass.” She giggled. Manjoume did not find it amusing. A stick up his where? He didn’t look like that!

In fact, seeing the carefree expression on Judai’s face made him super uncomfortable. He would never make that kind of enthusiastic face during a duel. Duels were serious, not to be trifled with. Especially since, as a great teacher had once told him, duels were windows to the heart. And Manjoume’s heart was serious business.

Judai effortlessly defeated the Obelisk Blue nobody with ease. Manjoume wondered how a loser like that had made it to the highest ranking dorm, but he didn’t have much time to dwell on it when Judai’s eyes focused on him and the boy had begun to run towards him with a bright expression.

“Judai!”

Hearing his own voice calling out his rivals name made his skin crawl. He forced a smile, since there were so many people around. “M-Manjoume,” he stammered, still not comfortable calling Judai by his name.

Judai leaned in close, brows furrowed. “Have you found love yet? I haven’t. It’s harder than you’d think.”

“It’s been like thirty minutes,” Manjoume spat. “Love does not come easy, Judai. I can talk from experience, as a man who has loved many times before....”

Judai’s eyebrows rose in surprise. It got Manjoume’s goat. He was about to yell at him when he and Judai were suddenly swarmed by Obelisk Blue girls. They were all talking at once to Judai. It made Manjoume annoyed as he was pushed back by all the babes that should have been flocking to HIM.

What annoyed him more was them all calling him “Manjoume” or “Jun”. Had they no respect for the best thing to walk on two legs since…….nothing, he was the best.

“Thunder!” He yelled, hoping that Judai would hear him over the masses of girls surrounding him.

As if on cue, Judai cried out, “One!”

“Ten!” The girls cried happily. “Hundred! Thousand!”

“Manjoume Thunder!!!” Judai yelled, and the girls cheered, and Manjoume scowled, deciding to back down, at least for today. Something about Judai’s Manjoume got the girls going, much to his confusion. It must be the handsome face attracting them all. That’s why nobody was so much as looking at him - because he had Judai’s kiddish features.

He went to walk away when he saw Asuka standing off to the side with her two friends. She was looking at him through narrowed eyes, much to his EXCITEMENT! He was about to run over to her, because as we ALL know, she was his TRUE true love, but then she walked first, approaching him briskly.

“T-Tenjoin-kun-” He began, but she cut him off.

“Cut the crap, Manjoume,” she said, seeing right through him. And his soul. “What kind of nonsense have you and Judai gotten yourselves into?”

Manjoume gasped, grasping his beloved Asuka’s hands in his own. “You believe me? Us? Whatever??”

She looked down at his hands grasping hers, and for a brief moment there was a brush of pink across her face, but it disappeared quickly when she looked back up at him. “Somehow, yes. Even though I should be, I’m not surprised that you two managed to get yourselves into this situation…”

“I’m so happy,” Manjoume cried, dramatically covering his eyes. “I knew I could trust in you, Asuka. You’re always so kind to me.”

“I’m mostly doing this for Judai,” she said bluntly. Manjoume was crushed, but not TOO crushed. “No one should have to live as you.”

“You’re right,” Manjoume sniffed, puttin on a tough face. “Because only one man can handle the true MIGHT of being Manjoume Thunder - and that’s me.”

Asuka did not look convinced. She looked over Manjoume’s shoulder to Judai, who was attempting to break free from the crowd around him. He was yelling something about wanting to eat. “Let’s save Judai and then you two will tell me what happened. I’ll try to help you...somehow.”

“Oh, Asuka,” Manjoume swooned.

* * *

 

After saving Judai from the girls, Asuka dragged them both to her room in the Osiris Red dorms that she had STOLEN from Manjoume. Okay, not stolen. He didn’t mind at all. She sat them down across from her and stared at them, arms crossed, and waited for an explanation.

Manjoume let Judai do the talking. He wish he hadn’t - Judai made it sound even more ridiculous, somehow. When he got to the part about meeting Manjoume in the bathhouse, Manjoume interrupted, frowning deeply.

“So, basically, we’re stuck in each other’s bodies,” Manjoume said, deciding to just summarize what was happening. “Saiou cursed us, and now, we’re like this. It’s hellish, Asuka.”

“I can imagine,” Asuka mumbled, giving them a blank stare. She obviously wasn’t imagining it - she had no need to. SHE’D never piss off the weird psycho man, unlike these two bozos. She leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees. “So, do you guys know how to reverse it?”

“Saiou said something about true love,” Judai mumbled, looking troubled. “We have to find it, that’s what he said.”

Asuka looked at Judai with a brief glimpse of hope in her eyes, and Manjoume’s heart soared. She had looked at HIM, not Judai!! Well, technically she had looked at Judai, but it was HIS body so it was HIM. He looked at her expectantly, but she didn’t meet his eyes.

“True love, huh,” was all she said, furrowing her brows. “That’s tough. Who’d love nerds like you?”

Her insults rolled off of Manjoume like water on a ducks back, cuz he knew that she was putty in his hands, but Judai huffed angrily. “Plenty of people! Geez, Asuka, that was mean.”

As Asuka and Judai argued, Manjoume fell into a comfortable daydream about how he was going to get Asuka’s affections - he’d go see Fubuki, and his teacher of love would help him get her attention, even with Judai’s scrawny body. Jk he wasn’t too scrawny, he was actually kinda muscular…...weird…..who knew dueling kept you so physically fit?

He leapt up from the couch, startling Judai and Asuka. “Sorry chumps, I got somewhere to be,” Manjoume said, making to leave.

“Manjoume,” Judai began, but Manjoume wasn’t gonna wait around to listen to that guy when there was love on the line. He had a destination in mind, and it was……………………..wherever Fubuki was!!

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

Manjoume eventually found Fubuki where he normally was - the beach. He was surfin, hangin ten, and winking at ladies all at the same time. Manjoume watched as a horde of ladies fainted at just the mere stare of Fubuki, and felt a pang of jealousy. Someday they would see the beauty of Manjoume Thunder, and then they’d all feel super silly for wasting their energy on Fubuki. Tho, imo (in Manjoume’s opinion), Fubuki definitely had the same good looks as Asuka, so he’d probably always be more handsome than Manjoume. But more charismatic? Probably not.

Fubuki caught sight of Manjoume from the waves and coasted in with a wide smile. “Judai! What’s bringing you to the beach?” He captured Manjoume in a hug and pat him on the back. Manjoume did not particularly like being embraced by the bigger guy, so he pushed him back after a couple of minutes of bear hugging.

“I need help, teach,” Manjoume began. Fubuki’s happy expression fell a little at ‘teach’. Judai never called him that! “I need….love help!”

He smiled again, smugly running a hand through his hair. “Well, I am the hottest dude in all of duel school. The ladies love me. I am the true love doctor.”

“Yeah,” Manjoume said excitedly, nodding fervently. “I know!”

“Let’s kick back, Judai, and talk a little,” Fubuki said, grabbing Manjoume’s arm and leading him to two beach chairs underneath an umbrella. Two girls were sitting there, eagerly looking at Fubuki as they approached. Manjoume sat in one of the chairs. After a few seconds of flirting between Fubuki and the girls, they skipped off, leaving the two dudes to dude it up, alone. Fubuki relaxed into the chair, letting his eyes fall closed leisurely before turning to look at Manjoume. “So, wassup lil dude?”

“Well, I want Asuka to like me-”

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa,” Fubuki stopped him before he could continue. He looked very seriously at Manjoume. “No. I don’t think so. I won’t stand for this, not when my lil Chazzanova is already trying to win her heart.”

“It’s me,” Manjoume hissed.

Fubuki scowled. “Yeah, it’s you, so what, Judai? I’m not going to betray Manjoume when that guy’s been tryin’ so hard!”

Manjoume had no idea how to get Fubuki on his side. This love guru was stubborn, and a little dumb when it came to things like this, so it would take a little elbow grease for him to get advice. “Please, Fubuki - it’s important. I need her to fall in love with me.”

Asuka’s brother did not appear very pleased about this, but he didn’t seem totally against it either. “You really like her?”

“Of course I do,” he insisted with all his heart. He felt positively in love whenever he looked at her beauty!

“Well then,” Fubuki said with a frown, “I’ll help you……. but just to be fair, I’ll only tell you what I’ve already told Manjoume!!”

Manjoume groaned inwardly. He couldn’t believe Fubuki, who was so smart when it came to matters of LOVE, hadn’t worked it out when he’d practically told him. Despite being as handsome as his sister was pretty, he sure wasn’t as smart as her. But then, that was why Manjoume liked HER and not him!!! j/k, it was also because Asuka had the bazingas while Fubuki did not. But I digress.

He left his teacher feelin a lil down. His mood was about to get much worse, however. As he headed back to the red dorm, he caught a glimpse of his trademark super cool spicy. spicy hair. and long black trenchcoat. He ducked behind a tree, feeling very stealthy even tho the bright red of the stupid Osiris Red uniform did not blend in very well with the surrounding foliage, and waited.

What was Judai doing here? Way away from the heart of campus, in the woods? This was all very suspicious. He was holding an envelope. Manjoume eyed it up with his keen, binocular like vision and saw his name written on it in some flowery handwriting that he did not recognise. Who had given him that? And how DARE Judai have opened and read it when it was clearly addressed to him?! He was about to go out there and give him a PIECE OF HIS MIND, but he stopped when he saw another person enter the scene.

It was a girl. She was in Obelisk Blue, ofc. No girls were ever in anything other than Obelisk Blue bc girls rule at duelling. Manjoume didn’t recognise her, though, so he supposed she must be a first year. Then again, he didn’t often recognise girls, because looking at another woman would be a betrayal of the highest order to his beloved Asuka.

In spite of that, he forced himself to look. She was pretty, he guessed, though she did not carry a deck with her, which made him wonder if she was really the type of person he’d want to be around.

“Um, Manjoume-senpai?” She said timidly. Judai’s reaction to the name was a little delayed, and Manjoume sighed. Loudly. It was a wonder nobody heard him, tbh.

“Oh. Oh, hi,” Judai said, “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” She repeated. She looked almost wounded, and didn’t seem able to make eye contact with him as she said. “You- you didn’t read my letter…?”

“OH!” Judai clapped a hand to his forehead, and laughed. “This.” He waved the letter as though he’d just remembered it existed. Manjoume got a wiff of perfume as he did so. What kind of fruity ass letter was this? Something told him it had NOTHING to do with class, which made it even more mysterious that a girl he’d never met would give it to him. Judai. Whatever. “You didn’t have to leave it at my dorm room, bee tee dubs. You could have just given it to me. Or just TOLD me.”

“No!” The girl looked SCANDALIZED at this. She shook her head. “No! I-I could never… I was too nervous!”

“What is there to be nervous about?” Judai asked. “I know Manjoume seems kinda like an asshole- well, sometimes he is. But he’s not that bad! I promise!”

“Manjoume-senpai! I never thought you were a… a…” She was quick to deny it, and seemed suspicious. Like he was trying to trick her into agreeing. It was a good thing Manjoume was kinda weird already w/ the Manjoume Thunder stuff, or she might have thought something was off about him referring to himself in the third person. “I’ve never thought that. Ever since I came to Duel Academia, Manjoume-senpai, I’ve always thought you were… totally dreamy…-” das right, manjoume thought, i am- “And when I saw you duelling earlier, I thought, maybe you weren’t as intimidating as I always thought you were… so that’s why… I wanted to take the chance… to tell you i like you!!!!!!!!!”

Manjoume’s eyes widened. What!! A girl LIKED him? Or, well, Judai in his body, but still, it was his body, so she liked HIM? Suddenly, he was looking at the girl in a new light. If he had a chance with her, she wasn’t too bad. He could have done worse.

Cherry blossoms drifted through the air, even though the trees weren’t in season and there weren’t even any in the vicinity. Weird. Judai opened his mouth to reply, and Manjoume crossed his fingers.

“I’m…….” Come on, you idiot, don’t mess this up. “I’m………………………..” just say you like her and kiss her and put an end to this come on this is being HANDED to you “I’m………………………………………… sorry.”

Manjoume fell over comically. Thankfully the crashing of his body through the bush behind him and the cartoon sound effect that accompanied it did not alert either Judai or the girl. He got up, brushed some twigs out of his hair, and focussed once again on the situation at hand in time to hear the girls reaction.

“What?”

Judai apparently realised he’d hurt her. Which was hard to avoid, even if you were as dumb as he was. She looked like she was about to cry.

“Aw, please don’t be upset!” He said. “It’s just… I don’t even know your name, y’know? You didn’t even put it on your letter, you just told me to meet you here! And we’ve never spoken before, so-”

He’d left it a bit late to let her down gently. She was crying now, and he seemed flustered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he said, “I mean, you seem really nice! Seriously! And I’d love to be friends! But we can’t go out. Because…” He paused, then steeled himself. “Because… I’m not the person you think I am.”

He seemed supper. supper pleased with himself for coming up with that. The girl continued to cry. “But I love you!” She finally managed to blubber out.

“Aw, shucks,” Judai said, and tugged her into a hug, which went a lil awkwardly, bc now she was crying her eyes out onto his chest. “C’mon, it’s not so bad. Someday you’ll find someone who can love you just as much as you love them.” He patted her back. “Trust me. Trust Manjoume Thunder.”

Manjoume gritted his teeth so hard his THIRD set of them ground down to nubs. Every time he destroyed a new set, they just grew back. Manjoume was a rodent.

“How could you DO this to me?” He yelled, jumping out from his hiding space, the leaves sticking out of his hair making him look even crazier than he must have already.   

Judai and the girl seperated, and Judai held up his hands. “Man- I mean, Judai, it’s not what it looks like!”

“I can’t BELIEVE YOU!!!!” Manjoume yelled, marching over and bopping Judai right on the nose. The other went reeling back. Manjoume hadn’t known his own strength - then again, all the **protein** they ate in the form of **fried** **shrimp** and **lifting** a heavy duel disk for a good few hours every day probably built up some SERIOUS arm muscles.

^ like these ^

The girl scampered away and Manjoume grabbed Judai by the collar of his coat, shaking him. His stupid head lolled back and forth on his stupid shoulders (Manjoume would call his own head and shoulders stupid as long as it was JUDAI that was currently occupying them).

“What the HELL?” He yelled, sure that the girl was out of earshot by now. “Why would you turn her down?! Do you WANT to stay this way?!?!?!”

Judai looked confused. “Wha-? Manjoume…”

“Have you forgotten already? Are you that dense?!” Manjoume shook him some more. “LOVE is what’s going to save us! Why did you tell her no? She said she loved you! Me! Whatever!”

“Manjoume!” Judai gasped, once Manjoume had stopped shaking him enough for him to get some words out. He grabbed Manjoume’s wrists to stop him from doing it again, and looked at him seriously. “Do you really trust a girl you’ve never SPOKEN to before to save you from this?”

Manjoume glared at him. The answer was obvious, and hung unspoken in the air between them.

“Wow, aniki…” Ojama Yellow worried, drifting out from behind Judai. “That’s kinda…”

“Totally…” Ojama Black followed.

“PATHETIC!” Green finished. They all looked equally embarrassed for him.

“Kuri kuri…” Winged Kuriboh agreed, drifting behind Manjoume’s left shoulder. He swatted the stupid thing away. He didn’t understand a word the thing said, but Judai seemed to, and he laughed.

“That’s right, partner!” He grinned, tears in his eyes as he chuckled up a storm. “Manjoume is totally desperate!”

“I am not,” Manjoume sulked, letting go of Judai and standing up, brushing his hands off on his pants. “The only thing I’m desperate for is to get the hell out of your body.”

“Manjoume, you can’t rush love,” Judai said, and nodded sagely. “These things take time.”

“What the hell would you know about love?” Manjoume snapped. “This is why people like teach have girls on him 24/7, and why the person YOU spend most time around are those two dorks you call friends.”

“And you,” Judai said, looking a little testier than he usually did. “I spend time with you, so what does that say about you? And besides, for all that you say YOU’VE learned from Fubuki, you haven’t seemed to pick up any girls.”

“Kuri kuri!!” Winged Kuriboh backed Judai up, fluttering around Manjoume’s head angrily.

“Exactly,” Judai nodded. Then, remembering Manjoume didn’t understand a thing his duel spirit companion said, he said, “Partner says it’s not true love with those girls and Fubuki, they only like him for his pretty face.”

“First of all,” Manjoume seethed, “Fubuki is NOT pretty. He’s handsome. So get that right. Secondly, he knows more than YOU! The only partner you’ll ever have, romantic or otherwise, is that stupid ball of fluff.”

He was pretty proud of his SICK diss, but Judai just picked himself off the ground, shook off his coat to get rid of some of the dirt on it, and turned around.

“Whatever,” he said, stalking off. “Have fun in my body, Manjoume.”

Manjoume probably should have gone after him, and apologised for hitting him and saying all that stuff and then maybe they could work on a plan for finding TRUE love. That would have been the smart thing to do. However, Manjoume was not very smart, and instead he stomped off in the other direction.

He wished that the ojamas would have come with him, at least. He hated those guys, and they were annoying as hell, but at least their constant jabbering would have took his mind off of what he was thinking about. Which, at the moment, was Judai and how ANNOYED he was. He didn’t care what the other thought, at least if he’d accepted that girls confession, it might have helped… but now he’d never know.

It was getting dark by the time he returned to the red dorm. He was cold and tired and hungry and desperately needed a bath, and for the first time that evening, he wished he was on good terms with Judai, if only so he could use his own private bath instead of the red dorm’s communal ones. Deciding to put that experience off for as long as possible, he decided to get food first.

When he stepped into the dining room, he was greeted by the smell of fried shrimp and rice (chicken nuggers and mashed potato if you are in the dub) and an awkward silence. Every head snapped round to look at him, and then quickly ducked back down to face their food to stop themselves from staring. Only Shou and Kenzan watched on, and much as he wished he could avoid them, their table WAS the only one with space at it. He got his food and sat down.

“Aniki…” Shou began. Manjoume interrupted.

“Can this wait until after I’m done? I’m hungry.”

To his surprise, both Shou and Kenzan remained quiet as he ate. Then again, they’d probably never seen Manjoume in this bad of a mood before. By the time he was finished, the dining room was empty, and he went to stand up, hopefully avoiding whatever Shou wanted to jabber to him about. Kenzan grabbed his wrist from across the table as he stood, effectively stopping him from moving.

“Aniki,” he said, “Please sit down.”

Manjoume sat down, reluctantly, if only because he knew that if he didn’t, Kenzan was not going to let go, and he’d rather sit on his accord and listen to Shou and Kenzan’s worrying than be forced to stay by an overly beefy dino nerd.

“Aniki, we are SUPER worried!!!” Shou said, his eyes watering behind his tiny specs. “First you’re acting all weird, and then we heard about this afternoon… aniki, are you sure this is what you want?”

Kenzan nodded. “I mean, we can accept you and Manjoume being friends, even if he’s kind of an asshole… but for the past couple of days, all you’ve been talking about is him, the only person you hang around with is him, and then we heard what happened this afternoon…”

Manjoume stayed quiet, only because he wanted to know where the hell they were going with this.

“Aniki- no,” Shou steeled himself, and then said, purposefully, “Judai.” The name sounded weird from him, but he carried on, “Look, we have absolutely no problem with you, no matter who you are- we don’t care if you’re gay, but…”

Manjoume’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Aniki… I mean, Judai,” Kenzan said seriously, placing a hand on his across the table. “It’s okay. We know. We’re okay with it.”

Manjoume’s hand shook a lil. “I am not gay.”

“It’s okay!” Kenzan reassured him, clutching his shaking hand, clearly mistaking his annoyance with how terribly wrong they’d gotten all this with some kind of upset. “Aniki, you know we’d love you no matter who you love. There’s nobody we’d be prouder to call our big brother! It’s just-”

“It’s just why did it have to be MANJOUME,” Shou wailed, collapsing on the table. Kenzan removed his hand from Manjoume’s to pat his fellow lil bro on the back, looking sympathetic. “Anybody else, aniki!” Shou blubbered, his voice muffled as he buried his head in his arms, “Anyone! Misawa, Fubuki, my older brother, heck, I’d even take a torrid student-teacher romance with Chronos over this!”

Manjoume was struggling to control his temper over how fuckin OFFENDED he was. Judai would be damn lucky to have a man like him, Manjoume Thunder.

“Calm down,” he said, even though he was having a hard time remaining calm himself. “First of all, Manjoume and I are not… dating, or whatever…”

“Oh, aniki, we never thought you were,” Kenzan reassured him. “No, we all know Manjoume is totally into the babes, I mean, look at his crush on that Asuka chick-” Manjoume wanted to punch him for calling his beloved Tenjouin-kun that, but he refrained- “but man, punching him out just because you saw him confessing to someone, that’s HARSH. We know you’re a passionate guy, and that’s why we love you, but we can’t condone that kinda thing!”

Manjoume frowned. Somewhere along the way, the story of why he’d punched Judai seemed to have gotten twisted, and that poor girl was probably too embarrassed to correct anyone… or maybe she had even spread the story. Hey, it was better saying someone confessed to you and ended up getting their lights knocked out for it than it was to say you had confessed to them and got turned down, right?

This was all such a mess. Manjoume decided it would probably be better to go along with it than to put energy into convincing Kenzan and Shou that it was all a misunderstanding. Besides, it wasn’t like he could tell him the actual reason he’d punched Judai. And hey, it wasn’t like it was him that was getting any sort of reputation, so what did he care if a few people thought Judai had the hots for him?

“Look, okay, you’re right,” he finally said, “I have a massive crush on Manjoume. And who can blame me? He’s hot, cool, and talented. Now if you don’t mind, I have to take a bath. Don’t bother me. I’m… mourning the loss of my youthful love, or whatever.”

He got up from the table. Shou and Kenzan didn’t follow him. He heard Shou mutter, “Poor aniki, he’s got it bad,” and then slammed the door to block out anymore of their annoying conversation. God, they were idiots.

As he soaked in the bath that night, he couldn’t help but realise it was weirdly quiet. Were people avoiding him? Whatever. It wasn’t like he cared. He sighed and leant back, looking at the tiled ceiling above him.

Did people think it was really that weird for someone to be attracted to him? He’d tricked himself into having a delusion of grandeur, sure, but he had some shred of self-awareness, and he wasn’t deaf. He heard what people said about him, and despite the fact that he brushed it off as nonsense 99% of the time, he knew there were some less… favourable opinions on him around campus.

But still, it shouldn’t have caused that kind of reaction in people. It shouldn’t have made Shou cry like a mother who was disappointed in her son and Kenzan pat his back comfortingly, like a husband who wanted to apologise to his wife for how their kid had turned out. Didn’t people LOVE Judai? They could rally behind him for every other stupid thing he did, so why was having a crunch on him any worse than the time he’d ate 400 fried shrimp on a dare from Shou and spent the whole night puking? Something that would have made a normal guy a laughing stock had made Judai a HERO for a few days. To be fair, that was a lot of fried shrimp to eat, so even Manjoume had to admit that it was kinda impressive. But certainly a lot stupider, objectively speaking, than crushin on the Manjoume Thunder.

I guess I’ll never understand these nerds, Manjoume thought bitterly, getting out of the bath and wrapping a towel around his waist. He was tired, and he was going straight to bed.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> essential moisture

Manjoume slept restlessly that night. No dreams, no nothin. In fact, he had barely even slept. He had been awake when Shou and Kenzan had come creeping to the room, dragging their feet. They hadn’t said anything to each other in his presence, even though he had been “asleep”, to them, as if they were afraid he’d hear them. He had been awake when Shou had first gotten up, too, and felt oddly hurt when the small boy didn’t try to wake him up.

He lay there for a while after Shou left, scowling at the wall. What the hell? They were still being weird? Even after a full night had passed? He felt so angry. What was wrong with crushing on, well, himself anyway? Was it really that big enough of a deal that it made everyone turn the other way when they saw Judai?

A hand gently shook Manjoume’s shoulder. Manjoume turned over to see Kenzan, who was looking at him with a serious gaze. “What?”

“We’re gonna be late,” Kenzan said, his serious expression turning to a friendlier one - one Manjoume was used to seeing on the dino-dude’s face. It made Manjoume feel a little less angry. Kenzan was truly an angel.

“Right,” Manjoume muttered, getting up out of bed. He ran a hand over his bedhead and looked at Kenzan questioningly as the Ra Yellow student pulled on his bracelet things. “Kenzan, can I ask you something?”

“What’s up, Aniki?”

“Is liking Manjoume that bad?”

Kenzan sputtered and messed up pulling on his bracelet so bad that he hit himself in the face with it. What a klutz. After regaining his composure, he frowned, shrugging as nonchalantly as he could. “I mean, I guess it’s kinda...uh, not that you’re weird or anything…”

Manjoume scowled. “Whatever.”

“S-sorry, Aniki!” Kenzan exclaimed, but Manjoume was already outtie. He changed into the Osiris Red uniform like a sim and peaced out, leaving Kenzan to blubber on about whatever by himself. The Manjoume Thunder didn’t have to listen about how weird it was to like him!

It made him feel a lil self conscious as he walked on his own to the cafeteria for breakfast though. When he entered, people looked at him, but not nearly as many as last night. Though he normally LOVED having all the attention on himself, this time he felt a little angry about it. He wanted to yell at them to buzz off, but knew better.

He felt a little disappointed when he didn’t see Judai there, but also a little relieved. He could only imagine the hot goss that would emerge if he sat with him. Or didn’t sit with him. Either way, he would have been screwed if Judai actually was there. Luckily he wasn’t, so he went to sit with Shou, who had taken a seat at their regular table.

When he approached after getting his food, Shou was nearly finished his breakfast already. “Good morning,” Manjoume said through clenched teeth. He might as well be polite, even though the guy nearly let him be LATE!

Shou looked up at him briefly and looked back down at his tray. “Hey, aniki…”

Manjoume decided being polite was too old fashioned and let his tray fall to the table with a clatter. “Eating by yourself, huh, shortie? Were you in too much of a rush to sit here all alone to bother waking me up this morning?”

The smaller boy looked horrified. “I-I tried waking you up-”

“Don’t lie to me,” Manjoume snapped, sliding into his seat beside Shou and starting to eat his breakfast. Even though he was angry, he wasn’t going to let the twerp interfere with his eating habits. “I was awake all morning, I know you left without waking me.”

Shou didn’t respond to that. He looked pretty upset at being called out by the one, the only, aniki, though. It gave Manjoume a weird satisfaction. Ha, he thought. Take that.

As he chowed down on breakfast, Shou seemed to get more comfortable with Manjoume’s presence, and even started talking to him when Kenzan came. It made Manjoume pretty happy, tbh. He felt happy for the stupid idiot (Judai) for having such understanding friends.

But just as things were getting good, they got bad again. With a slam of the door, Judai entered the cafeteria. Everyone held their breath as they looked at him, and then Manjoume. Shou trembled beside Manjoume and Kenzan looked like he was gonna go full dino.

Everyone’s eyes followed Judai as he strode over to Manjoume’s table without any hesitation. Judai had a sour expression, which made Manjoume angry. Was this idiot still mad at him for yesterday? AKA for NOTHING? Because it was Judai’s fault that he didn’t accept the girl’s proposal, not his-

Unless he had heard the rumors that he was in love with Manjoume. Baseless, of course, but it must be annoying to hear that you love someone when you can’t even defend yourself!

Manjoume wasn’t sure he felt like hearing Judai reprimand him, so he looked down at his food and continued eating, ignoring Judai as he approached.

“Judai,” Judai said flatly, looking around at everyone. “I need you to come with me.”

“No,” Manjoume said (after swallowing his food - he wasn’t a total slob like SOME ppl). “Can’t you see I’m eating?”

“It’s important,” Judai insisted.

“More important than this delicious toast?” Manjoume asked, raising his eyebrows. “I don’t think so.”

Judai reached across the table and grabbed the hand that was holding the delicious toast. Manjoume was stunned long enough to allow himself to be dragged by the wrist up from his seat and halfway across the cafeteria before realizing what had transpired. He looked behind him and, when he saw a sad Shou getting consoled by a comforting Kenzan, he scowled, allowing himself to be dragged along to talk about whatever with Judai.

When they left the cafeteria, Manjoume snatched his hand away from Judai. “Judai, what the hell do you think you’re doing? You can’t just do that-”

“Your brothers are coming to visit,” Judai interrupted, crossing his arms.

Manjoume’s annoyance dissipated to FEAR. “T-they are?! I had no idea they were coming to visit anytime soon!!”

“Well, they are,” Judai said. He sounded pretty irritated. It was unusual to hear the guy so...unhappy. It made Manjoume a LITTLE guilty for yesterday. But just a little. Okay maybe not at all, Judai deserved it. “I don’t know what to do, Manjoume! I don’t know how to talk to your brothers.”

Manjoume was secretly happy that it wasn’t him who was going to be visiting his brothers. Though they were his brothers, they were assholes, tbh. He sniffed, crossing his arms and shrugging. “Well, I don’t know, Judai,” he said, deciding that he would take after his brothers and be a little asshole himself. “Maybe if we could somehow switch back through the power of love I’d be able to deal with them myself…”

Judai did not take that well. “Do you really want me to date someone I’ve never spoken to before? What if you don’t like her when we switch back? Then what? C’mon Manjoume.”

“I don’t care!!” Manjoume yelled, throwing his arms in the air dramatically. “I don’t care, I’d deal with it when it happened!!”

“You’re so inconsiderate of other people’s feelings,” Judai spat.

“At least I’m not an idiot who wants to stay in someone else’s body for the EONS it’ll take you to find true love!!” Manjoume yelled back.

“You don’t understand love.”

“You don’t understand OUR SITUATION,” Manjoume finally exploded, glaring at Judai. Jeez, what a goddamn idiot.

Judai gave him a glance-over with a bitter expression. “Fine, I’ll deal with your brothers by myself.”

Manjoume watched him as he walked away, stewing in his anger. God, why didn’t Judai realize that it didn’t matter whether or not he really LIKED that girl? If she liked him, that would be fine, wouldn’t it? That’s true love. Being loved. He stood there for a few more seconds before storming back into the cafeteria. Shou and Kenzan were standing at the door, looking more sympathetic than they had in the past day or two.

“Aniki,” Shou cried, catching Manjoume in a hug. “Manjoume’s so cruel!”

“What-” Manjoume began, but then was encased in a hug from Kenzan as well.

“He really doesn’t understand true love, does he?” Kenzan said sadly, patting Manjoume’s back for...comfort? Manjoume had no idea what they were talking about, obviously not realizing that they had been kinda listening, but not really. They heard parts of their argument, but not all of it. Whatta bunch of noobs. “Rejecting you like that...really gets me angry, Aniki. How could he?”

“Yeah, sure,” Manjoume blankly answered, pushing them away. “Anyway, back to that delicious toast.”

When he’d finished his delicious toast, he went to class. Judai was not there, which made him worried. Judai was a notorious slacker, sure, but he’d been pretty awake this morning. There was no reason he’d skip class if he was awake.

When Chronos had finished his lecture, Manjoume made his way down to the front of the lecture hall.

“Chronos,” he said, once everyone was gone. “Have you seen Judai?”

“Signore Manjoume was excused from classes this morning to have brunch with his brothers,” Chronos said, brushing him off. “Now go, get out of my sight. Get to your next class. I don’t want to hear a word of you being late for the rest of your classes.”

It seemed like Chronos had guessed exactly what Manjoume would do next, but that wasn’t going to stop him. Of COURSE he was going to skip his class and go right over to where Judai and his brothers were! He was now OFFICIALLY panicking. He’d known his brothers were visiting soon, sure, but he hadn’t thought it would be THAT soon. He hadn’t even had time to prepare. He flew out of Chronos’s class like a bat out of hell and straight to where he thought his brothers would be. As he expected, the were in the lounge that guests of the academia were usually invited to. He peeked in the tiny window on the door, and ducked out of sight before either of his brothers caught a glimpse of him. Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to evade Judai’s sights - he saw the other frown at him briefly before he’d ducked down.

Quiet as a mouse, he opened the door a tiny crack, just enough to hear the conversation that was going on behind it.

“Is something wrong, lil bro?” Chosaku said. The sickeningly sweet tone he spoke in made Manjoume want to puke. It was so, so, so obviously forced.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Judai said, flippantly. Manjoume was glad that that he’d managed to start eavesdropping at the start of this meeting, because Judai conveniently asked, “So, uh… is there like, a reason for this visit?”

“Do we need a reason to visit our darling little brother?” Shoji said. Manjoume almost wretched. “We just thought- well, it’s been so long since we saw you, and we didn’t exactly say goodbye to each other on the best of terms. We’d like to apologise to you, Jun.”

“Jun?” Judai said stupidly.

“It’s… your name, little brother,” Chosaku prompted.

“Oh.  Oh right, of course. Yes.” The atmosphere in the room seemed to sour for a moment, but then Judai was talking again, and back to his annoying peppy tone at that. “But that’s… that’s awesome!”

No, it wasn’t awesome, Manjoume thought, but Judai was a little too gullible to realise that his brothers were trying to trick him. There really was no way around it - it was obvious they wanted something, but what…?

“We’re glad you think so,” Shoji said, and even through his sugar sweet act, the surprise he felt at “Manjoume” being so naive was obvious. “We’ve been cruel to you in the past, Jun, we realise that. And what’s worse, we tried to take advantage of you! We tried to use you to further our own selves… and that’s just not right. We are so, so sorry.”

“That’s amazing!” Judai gushed. “Really, that’s so cool that you came here to apologise to Maa….me. Of course I forgive you!”

“Wonderful!” Shoji said. “Now that we’re past the apologies and we’re one big happy family again, onto a completely unrelated matter… since we’re still your legal guardians, this came to us. We wanted to deliver it to you while we were here.”

Manjoume peeked in the window again, and luckily Judai was too absorbed in what they’d given him to notice him. He was opening an… envelope? What was it with him getting letters JUST as Judai had took up habitatin his body?

“What is it, little brother?” Chosaku said, in a tone that told Manjoume they’d already steamed the letter open and then resealed it and knew EXACTLY what was inside.

“It’s… it’s an invitation from Monthly Duel!!,” Judai said. At the mention of the HIT DUELLING MAGAZINE’s title, Manjoume’s eyes widened. What did they want with him…? “They want Manjoume… Manjoume Thunder to come along for an interview.”

“That’s incredible!” Both brothers gushed at once, as though they’d rehearse it.

“Really, though, we should have known it would happen someday,” Chosaku said, smugly.

“Yes. After all, you are our incredibly talented little brother,” Shoji added, equally as smugly.

“This is crazy- and it’s so soon!” Judai said, “I need to get ready- what the hell? What do I say? What do I WEAR?”

Manjoume grit his teeth. This was HIS opportunity, and Judai was going to steal it away from him! As though he needed another reason to hate the guy… but his annoyance was redirected to his brothers when he heard them say, “Oh, there’s no need to worry, little brother. We’ll be more than happy to help, of course.”

So this was their plan. They’d disown him for losing in a few duels, but as soon as people started paying attention to him again, they were clamouring for a piece of the spotlight. Surely Judai had to realise how pathetically money hungry they were-

“Wow, thanks! You guys, I’m gonna cry!”

Okay, enough was enough. Manjoume stood up and practically kicked the door to the lounge down, and all of a sudden all eyes in the room were on him.

“Oh,” Chosaku said, “If it isn’t Jun’s little friend. What’s your name again? Juhai?”

The condescending tone with which he spoke pissed him off to no end, and he expected Judai to defend him - especially since it was him they thought they were mocking - but his slacker classmate just said, clearly uncomfortable with his presence, “Judai, what are you doing here?”

What am I doing here? Manjoume wanted to scream. I’m here because you’re about to make a deal with the devil, metaphorically speaking, a deal with the devilS, literally speaking.

Instead he just smiled tightly, and tried to sound as composed as he could as he said, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help overhearing. It’s really amazing that you got into Monthly Duel!!, Manjoume. Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Judai said.

“But they’re USING you!” Manjoume was, thankfully, able to keep his voice at a normal speaking volume, but he doubted he would for long. “Isn’t that obvious? Don’t you think it’s suspicious that they want to come back into your life as soon as you get this amazing opportunity? They’re LEECHES. Tell them no! You can do the interview yourself!”

“Well, that’s not very nice,” Chosaku said.

Judai seemed to take a moment to process the information, and for a second, Manjoume thought he had gotten through to him. But then Judai stood, and Chosaku and Shoji joined him, as if to outnumber Manjoume.

“I don’t remember asking for your opinion, Judai,” Judai said coolly. He began to walk towards the door, Manjoume’s brothers following him. “Maybe you’d have trouble forgiving them after what they did, but I don’t. I believe in people. I’m not like you.” He cast a glance over his shoulder. “Now my brothers and I are going for lunch. Try not to ruin my day anymore.”

He slammed the door behind them. Damn, Manjoume thought, Judai could pull off a good impression of him when he was pissed off - but that wasn’t what was important right now! He needed to stop his brothers before they filled Judai’s head with MORE lies, and ruined his one chance at stardom!

* * *

 

“Tenjouin-kun, Tenjouin-kun!”

Asuka was in the library when Manjoume found her. She looked none too pleased when he interrupted her reading, and shushed him when he shouted on her, but he liked to think that she’d do that to ANYONE who cut in on her study time. His beloved was studious and a bit of a nerd, but that was part of why he loved her.

“What is it?” She hissed under her breath, glancing around the room. Fortunately, there were only a few people studying there beside her, and they seemed to be undisturbed by their talking. Even so, she stood up from where she was working. “Come on, let’s talk outside. I need a break anyway.”

When they were outside and Manjoume had explained the situation to her, she did not seem impressed with his reason for dragging her out. She frowned as she worked over the situation in her head, then said, “So let me get this straight - your brothers came to visit with the news that you’d gotten an interview in some magazine, and now you’re mad because Judai is potentially getting to do it instead of you?”

“Yes- I mean, no! I’m not mad because Judai is getting to do it.” Although he was. “I’m pissed off because he can’t see that they’re just trying to use him… me… they’re bottom feeders of the highest order, Asuka! There’s no way they came and apologised out of the good of their hearts - it’s because they want to capitalize on this in some way, I know it.”

Asuka sighed, massaging her temples. “And what evidence do you have to support this?”

“Besides knowing them for every year of my life?” Manjoume said, and she gave him a look that clearly said that would not suffice. He sighed, before admitting, “Okay, I don’t have any proof… but I know it’s true.”

“Well, Judai isn’t going to believe you without any actual proof,” Asuka said. “Especially after you got everyone at the Academia thinking he’s some kind of creep.”

“God! For someone who claims to be all happy and accepting, he sure isn’t ready to forgive me in a hurry.”

“He would if you were sorry.” Asuka raised her eyebrows. “Are you sorry?”

“...Anyway,” Manjoume said, deciding not to dwell on that fact for too long. “I need to prove to him that they’re only doing this for the money, or the fame, or whatever.”

“Okay. So get some proof.”

“Tenjouin-kun! You’re a genius!” Manjoume said, clapping his hands together. “I should FOLLOW them on their stupid lunch date and wait for them to say something incriminating that that stupid idiot wouldn’t notice, and then call them out on it.”

“Uh, no, that’s not what I was suggesting you do at all,” Asuka said, but it was too late. Manjoume seemed dead set on doing this. She sighed, and mentally consigned herself to going along with this stupid scheme. At least that way she could keep an eye on his and Judai’s situation…

* * *

 

Pretty much the only place two sophisticated, money grubbing adults like Chosaku and Shoji could go for lunch on the island where Duel Academia was located was the cafeteria that the teachers used. It had been classed up a lil for the visit of the Manjoume bros and their lunching there, but it was still a cafeteria - and thankfully, that meant there were enough people eating there that Asuka and Manjoume could sneak in unnoticed.

But it would be weird for two students to sneak into a teacher’s cafeteria, much less sit and chill while they waited for another party to slip up in their attempt to take advantage of their lil bro. That was why they’d dressed up as Chronos and Napoleon, knowing that Chronos had a class to teach, and Napoleon only ate the finest French cuisine that Tome made for him personally in the vice principal’s office.

Their disguises weren’t good, admittedly, but everyone seemed too distracted by their grub to notice these weird closet cosplays of Chronos and Napoleon. Manjoume wished that he’d been able to convince Asuka to disguise themselves as a couple (maybe he could even hold her hand!) but Asuka had quickly shut that idea down. Besides, she pointed out, there was only one female member of staff at the Academia besides the canteen staff, and she was permanently stationed in the nurse’s office.

“I can hardly hear them,” he grumbled as he strained to listen in on the conversation over the sound of the cafeteria.

“Then be quiet,” Asuka hissed, hiding behind her menu. He didn’t understand why. Even in an ugly wig and purple lipstick, she looked fetching.

His brothers were busy trying to work out a deal with Judai. They said all sorts of sketchy things, like how they wanted to put his money from the interview into a trust fund, and that of course they’d run an ad for the Manjoume business along with the article, oh, and if Judai could give them a lil name drop, that’d be swell - but nothing that sounded outright selfish… or wouldn’t to Judai’s ears, anyway. They were framing all of their demands so reasonably, peppering them with so many compliments, that Manjoume was sure even Asuka was starting to believe them.

Judai, true to form, was agreeing with everything that they told him and guzzling food like the worlds fattiest fatty. His brothers had already finished their meal and were waiting their plates to be taken away, but Judai was chowin down on the BIGGEST MEAL MANJOUME HAD EVER SEEN, obviously enjoying the better quality food they served here.

Shoji checked his watch. “Well, I wish we could stay with you for longer, little brother,” he said, “But we have to dash. Our helicopter’s picking us up in half an hour, and we don’t want to be in a rush.”

Manjoume clenched his fists under the table. They would not get away without proving they were full of shit!

“Yeah,” Chosaku said, standing up. Shit! They were getting away! “See you around, lil bro.”

He ruffled Judai’s hair as he passed, deflating some of the spikes a lil, and Judai managed a “bye” even with his mouth full of food - disgustingggg - and Manjoume watched, full of dismay, as the two left. Judai continued to eat, and as Manjoume watched him he felt himself grow angrier and angrier.

As Judai started on a fresh plate of curry, Manjoume leapt out of his chair.

“You IDIOT!” he yelled. “Can’t you see that everything they said to you was so damn SHADY?”

“Vice principal Napoleon?” Judai said, almost choking on some of his food as the short fat man yelled at him. “Wh-what?”

Manjoume tore off his EXPERT DISGUISE (it wasn’t actually that expert tbh, Judai’s just kinda a dummy) to reveal that it wasn’t a short fat man, but him, Manjoume!

“Manjoume!” Judai said, slamming his fork down and standing up. “What the hell? Did you follow me? Have you been here the whole time?!”

He was gathering a lot of attention. Asuka stood, taking off HER disguise as she did so. “Judai… calm down-”

“Asuka? You too? Don’t tell me you believe him!” He glared at Manjoume, then untucked the napkin from his collar and tossed it to the ground. It wasn’t as dramatic as he wanted it to be, because it was made of paper and just kinda fluttered downwards softly, but still. He turned to leave, “Look, just leave me alone!”

Manjoume moved to grab his arm, and Judai turned to glare at him. He shook his hand off, and said, “Look, I don’t know what your problem is! What is your deal? Why can’t you understand that not everything is about you!” He tugged his coat back on, and said, “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to say goodbye to MY brothers.”

With that, he left, and Asuka and Manjoume were soon rushed out by staff members who were wondering wtf these students were doing in here, and why were these clothes and wigs all over the floor?

Once they were out, Asuka took her glove off to wipe the lipstick off on the back of her hand, and said, “Look, Manjoume, maybe you should just drop this.”

“No way,” he said, shaking his head. He’d caught a glimpse of Judai heading in the direction of the helipad his brothers would probably use to get off the island, and he was after him in a flash.

He was slightly winded by the time he caught up to him, just outside the building that served as a waiting room for the helipad and a communications tower for the entire island. When he was within arms length, he grabbed the back of his coat and yanked Judai back - they landed in a heap just behind the building, and Manjoume groaned as he heard the helicopter land a hundred yards or so away - if his brothers got on it, he’d be out of chances to prove that they were GIANT PIECES OF SHIT!!!

“Manjoume?! What the-” Judai began, but Manjoume shushed him and clamped his hand over his mouth. If someone found them like this, a big pile of limbs and lots of hair, he didn’t want to think what kind of NEW rumours would start.

He was glad he’d quieted him down, because the door around the corner from them opened (audibly. that’s how they knew. they couldn’t see it and manjoume’s bros couldn’t see them) and they heard SLICK EXPENSIVE SHOES on concrete as his brothers stepped out.

“When did our little brother become such an idiot?” He heard Chosaku laugh.

Shoji sounded concerned as he said, “Quiet.”

“Please. He’s still cramming his face with food back there, and with how gullible he’s become, it’s not like he’d believe anyone else who overheard.”

Oh, brother. If only you knew, Manjoume smirked, and glanced back to Judai. The other looked shocked, which gave Manjoume some satisfaction, but not nearly as much as he’d expected it to.

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea to be talking about it.”

“Well I do! It’s hilarious! He honestly believed that we were going to put his money in a trust fund that doesn’t even exist?!?!?!”

Judai looked like he’d been punched in the stomach. As his brothers voices and footsteps faded, Manjoume let his hand fall away from his mouth, but he still didn’t try to talk. Concerned that he’d somehow traumatised him, he said, “Hey, don’t take it personally. They’re assholes.”

Judai didn’t seem convinced, and he remained quiet. Manjoume pulled him up and they walked back to the red dorm together.

When they got to his room, Judai sat on the edge of the bed, looking at his hands that he clasped in his lap. Manjoume sat at the desk that Judai did absolutely zero school work at and watched him.

“I feel so stupid,” Judai said finally. “I must look like an idiot.”

“It’s okay,” Manjoume said, a little awkwardly. He wasn’t used to comforting anyone, least of all Judai. “You look like an idiot every day. What difference is it that it happened to happen this afternoon?”

“I really trusted them,” Judai said, as though he hadn’t even been listening. What an asshole! Not listening to Manjoume was what had got them into this mess in the first place! “I know it’s stupid, but they were being so nice- I kept thinking how lucky you were to have brothers that cared about you.”

Manjoume sat there, awkwardly.

“I mean, I know you won’t care, but my family was never around that much. I was really enjoying getting some brotherly attention for once. It felt nice, you know?”

Okay, this was starting to piss Manjoume off.

“No, I’m to blame too,” he said stiffly. He didn’t WANT to apologise, but if it was the only way to shut Judai the hell up and get him to stop moping, he would. “If I had tried to explain things to you calmly, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. It was my fault that you got taken along for the ride. They’re my brothers, so you shouldn’t be feeling like shit because of them.”

Judai smiled weakly. And then that broke into a full on grin.

“Thanks for apologising,” he said. “So… we’re friends, right?”

“Sure,” Manjoume said, shrugging. “We’re friends.”

“Oh, Manjoume!!!!” Judai yelled, “C’mere, ya big lug!!!!!!!”

He crossed the tiny distance between his bed and the desk and wrapped his arms around Manjoume’s shoulders in a bear hug, tuggin his head right into the centre of his chest. Manjoume grabbed his hips and tried to force him away, but he clung on for dear life, ruffling his brown bushy hair and grinning. Finally Manjoume resigned himself to waiting the hug out, and it was just as he’d stopped struggling, his head resting against Judai’s chest, that they heard the door open.

“A-aniki?!”

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

Manjoume paled upon hearing Kenzan’s shocked voice. He struggled to get out of Judai’s vice-like hold to no avail. He managed to turn enough to see Kenzan and Shou standing there. Well Shou wasn’t standing there, he had fainted or something and Kenzan was fanning his fallen friend.

“K-Kenzan,” Manjoume stammered, still trying to separate from Judai. “Uh, I can explain-”

“We didn’t mean to……….to, uh, interrupt anything,” Kenzan was equally as embarrassed as Manjoume, probably moreso actually. He grabbed hold of the door handle and shut it, leaving Judai and Manjoume alone again. There was a few seconds of silence.

“Well, that was sure awkward, wasn’t it?” Judai said brightly.

Manjoume turned to him and scowled, pushing away and Judai let him go, FINALLY. “Don’t you care about your reputation at all!! Everyone thinks I...you………..Judai likes Manjoume! Doesn’t that bother you!”

“I hadn’t heard about it,” Judai said vacantly.

Manjoume didn’t believe it for a second. “Your stupid friends are going nuts over it, and I’m taking all the heat for it.”

“Well,” Judai said, looking thoughtful for about a split second before grinning stupidly. “That sucks! I’m gonna go finish lunch, Manjoume. See ya!”

“Wait-” he called as Judai went to leave, obviously not wanting to discuss anything further. He stepped out and past Kenzan and Shou, who were crouching outside, prepared to ambush Manjoume in case he did anything SUSPECT to their poor aniki. Judai looked down at them, holding in a laugh, before he went down the stairs and made his way back to the school.

Manjoume went to chase after him, but upon seeing Shou and Kenzan by the door, he stopped. He let out a sigh as he turned around to go back into the room and Shou and Kenzan immediately were on his back, talking all at once.

“Did we interrupt? Aniki, we’re so sorry,” Kenzan said apologetically.

“Did he reject you? Poor aniki……….” Shou said, looking sadly up at Manjoume.

“We didn’t mean to scare him off!!!” They both said in unison. Manjoume internally wished for his death.

“No, you didn’t do anything,” he said testily, taking a seat at the desk of the room and leaning against the surface. “We were just talking.”

He knew they knew better, and he could tell it from their faces. “Poor aniki,” Shou murmured. “You’re so convinced that he won’t return your affections that you’re pretending that didn’t happen………………………………………………………………”

“Stop,” Manjoume seethed. He didn’t like how these idiots just didn’t get it. Even if he tried to explain it now, it wouldn’t get through to them. “It wasn’t like that.”

“When he hugged you,” Shou asked, coming in close to whisper. “Did you heart go……...doki doki?”

Manjoume placed a palm against Shou’s face and shoved him back, feeling his face heat up. “What?! Of course not! What kind of stupid idea is that?!”

Shou did not seem put off by the shove. Instead he gave Manjoume a serious nod as he picked himself off of the floor. “It’s alright, aniki. Your secret is safe with me.”

Manjoume got up from the desk and went to leave the room, well, actually just leave these nerds. He wasn’t in the mood for their questions. “I’ll be back,” he said, not even allowing them enough time to ask where he was going when he shut the door. Finally, some peace!!!!!

He decided that it was a good idea for a walk through the woods. Why? Because he fuckin wanted to, that’s why. Plus, after the hectic day that the day had been so far, he wanted to do something nice and calm. You know whats calm? A WALK THROUGH THE WOODS.

While strolling through the woods, he was able to think about just how weird everything was now. Though he thought it constantly, he never had time to think about it all the way through. Being Judai was stressful - there were always people around! How was he supposed to reflect on anything when his friends were constantly talking to him? Not easily, that’s how.

His thoughts eventually brought him to just a few hours before the stroll. He honestly couldn’t believe his brothers had tried to ruse him like that. Even though it had happened that day, it felt like it hadn’t been real. Not being in his body was really screwing him up. Everything was off kilter. Seeing himself walking around………...it was just weird.

He frowned thinking about Judai being in his body. It made him annoyed, for one, but it confused him. After all, who ever got to say that they saw themselves like how he was seeing himself lately? Or even be able to say they’ve hugged themselves?

Upon thinking about the hug, Manjoume felt his face heating up. What the hell? He tried to wave it off, but it wouldn’t leave. Why was he blushing while thinking about hugging Judai? No one would ever do that, Manjoume confirmed.

Hoping to cool his hot face off on the upcoming cliff that overlooked the beach, Manjoume hurried his steps. Unfortunately, when he came across the overlook, he found someone else there.

Fubuki strummed out a few chords on his favorite acoustic guitar. “Judai. It’s good to see you.”

Manjoume had honestly NOT been hoping to see Fubuki, but he sat down next to him anyway. Fubuki strummed a few more chords absently. “Hi, Fubuki.”

“I heard you’re having love troubles,” Fubuki said. Manjoume glanced over at him, wondering if Asuka had convinced him of what he and Judai were going through. But he was dead wrong. “If it wasn’t Asuka you were diggin’, you should have told me outright.”

“What?” Manjoume asked in a strained voice.

“You and the Chazzanova,” Fubuki said, his eyes falling closed as he lost himself in the music coming from his sweet licks of the guitar. “I heard through the grapevine that you are hardcore crushing on him. Not that I blame you, he’s one handsome devil.”

Manjoume felt smug for about .5 seconds before realizing what he was insinuating. “I-I don’t have a crush on Manjoume, Fubuki.”

“You don’t have to lie to me, dude,” Fubuki said, smiling serenely at Manjoume. “I saw you stop him from accepting that girl’s confession. I was hiding in a tree. Don’t ask...anyway, it was really something, really impressive, IFO (in Fubuki’s opinion).”

Manjoume now knew what true horror felt like. “You started the rumor?”

“But it’s true, isn’t it?” Fubuki obviously did not see what was wrong with what he was saying. “This master of love does not discriminate, Judai. I help will all things love-related.”

He strummed his guitar as though to illustrate his point. Manjoume sighed, and turned to leave, and Fubuki called after him.

“Hey. Not so fast. Come, sit with me.”

Manjoume REALLY wanted to get out of there, but another part of him did not want to disobey his master of romance, and it was that part of him that won. He moved closer and sat down next to Fubuki, feelin v hippy as they sat crosslegged on the grass together, looking out across the sea as Fubuki played them a lil ditty on his guitar.

“So,” Fubuki said, “How long have you been crushing on my student?”

Manjoume decided to just humour him. Maybe he’d get away quicker if he gave him a few answers first.

“Not long,” he said, but it felt like a zillion years ago. “Since yesterday?”

“Man,” Fubuki said, sounding half disappointed and half impressed. “Sounds like you fell for him even faster than the Chazzinator did for Asuka. You kids today…”

He shook his head. Manjoume wondered why he kept calling him stuff beginning with Chazz. That was kinda weird tbh.

“So, what do you like about him?”

Manjoume felt a little relieved that that was his next question. If he was asking him to list stuff he liked about himself, then THAT was easy.

“Well, he’s a good duelist. And totally cool. Way smarter than me. I admire him for that.”

“Cool, cool,” Fubuki said.

“And he’s totally handsome, just sayin’.”

“Right on, lil man.”

“And he has a great body.”

Fubuki stopped playing his guitar, and did not comment.

“I mean, he does have a great body, right?” Manjoume prompted. He did not need Fubuki, whose opinion he valued more than anyone else at this school, to disagree with him on something this personal.

“I mean, I’m a ladies man, so maybe I don’t get it,” Fubuki said, pretending to tune his guitar to avoid eye contact. “But the Chazz… I mean… he’s kind of scrawny, right? I don’t know. Not my type, I guess.”

“Well, it’s not like he can help that,” Manjoume huffed, drawing his knees up to his chest and sounding a little defensive. “I mean, just because he doesn’t eat 24/7 like SOME people…” Fubuki looked mystified, and Manjoume stood up. “Whatever. Thanks for listening anyway, Fubuki, but I think I’m gonna get back.”

“See you around, J-dude,” Fubuki said.

When he got back to the dorm, Shou and Kenzan looked up from the duel they were having on his bed. Duelling? WITHOUT duel disks and fancy holograms? The people here in Osiris Red certainly were deprived.

“Hey, aniki!” Shou said. “Did you have fun on your walk?”

“I guess,” he said tugging off his uniform jacket. “I met Fubuki.”

“Really? That’s awesome! Did you ask him about… yknow…”

Manjoume did not know. He stared at Shou blankly.

“The thing with Manjoume,” Shou hissed. “I’m sure he could give you all sorts of advice on what went wrong! I know you didn’t want to talk to Kenzan and me about it, but that guy’s a love expert! He must have had some advice for you!”

Manjoume was too tired to argue about something this stupid with them. He kicked his shoes off and moved towards the bed.

“Go duel on your own bunk,” he said. “I’m tired.”

He hadn’t expected them to comply so easily, but they both clambered onto the bunk above him, and then he had to listen to them argue over their game, and sometimes when Kenzan got particularly pissed off at an attack of Shou’s the bed began to shake. Manjoume sighed and pulled his pillow over his head in an attempt to block out the noise, but when their hijinks were muffled, that just left him alone with his own thoughts. 


	9. Chapter 9

The next day went relatively uneventfully. Manjoume scouted out for hot babes while Judai went about doing his regular goofy things. Manjoume had noticed Judai duelling, as he normally did, and Manjoume set up shop nearby to 360 no scope babes. Manjoume stayed on the sidelines, making sure no one super hot was around checking out Judai when they could be checking out him.

Luckily there didn’t appear to be anyone hot in the vicinity. Not even Asuka. Where did all the babes go?

Maybe they’re all avoiding you, he thought to himself bitterly. He had noticed people actively walking in the opposite direction of him now that there was a rumor that he was chasing after Judai. That was a problem. A big problem. Mostly because if they were all running away, how was he going to find true love and get back into his own body and fix this? Smh…

Judai won the duel he was playing. The circle of people around the duel cheered. Manjoume did not cheer. He had no time for cheering while he mulled over his new...infamous popularity? Who knows.

Judai ran over to him after noticing him, a bright smile on his face. “Judai! Did you see that? I WIPED THE FLOOR with that noob!”

“Yes, I saw,” Manjoume said dryly. “Have you seen any cute girls? Or Asuka?”

Judai’s expression fell slightly. He looked around. Everyone was trying not to look at the duo, but was failing. “Nah, mostly everyones in class anyway…”

“Typical,” Manjoume sniffed. Of course all the hottest babes were the SMARTEST babes - why he was surprised, he wasn’t sure. As he was about to suggest that they go inside, a crack of thunder startled them both. Within seconds, it began to pour down with rain. They acted on Manjoume’s unspoken suggestion and ran inside, but it was already too late.

Their hair was, unfortunately, TOTALLY MESSED UP.

Manjoume looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He still wasn’t used to seeing Judai’s face when he looked in the mirror, but he wasn’t looking at his face this time. He was awkwardly trying to fix his hair. After so many baths, he hadn’t even thought about styling Judai’s hair, but this rain threw a wrench in things. How did one fix this bowlcut ass hair in such short notice?

He would ask Judai, the man responsible for this mess of a haircut himself, but he had vanished upon entering the school. Damn, the one time I needed him, thought Manjoume.

The more he messed with it, the fluffier and fluffier it got. He had no idea how this was physically possible. The dude had a fluffy head, sure, but it was getting to near impossible levels of fluffy. He was starting to look like he had a kuriboh for a head. And the fluffier he looked, the SILLIER he felt. And Manjoume Thunder was NOT silly. Definitely. 100% certified not silly.

Finally giving up and throwing in the towel, quite literally as he tossed the towel he had been using to dry off his hair into, idk, a hamper, where do towels go, Manjoume exited the bathroom. As expected, he got some odd looks. As expected, some people giggled as he walked by. Who wouldn’t? Judai’s hair was impossible - how he had managed to keep it looking alright these past few days was beyond him.

He walked into the classroom and was disgruntled to find that Judai wasn’t there. As much as he LOVED having a fluffball head, he would prefer to get it fixed asap. He stalked over to Kenzan and Shou, who were having a chat with Misawa in their seats.

“Hey,” he said, getting their attention. “Have you seen Manjoume?”

When they turned, they were all floored. “A-Aniki!” Shou said between good natured GUFFAWS. That’s right, guffaws. “What happened to you!!”

“Very fashionable,” Misawa said.

“Fuwa fuwa,” Shou said, reaching forward and fluffing Manjoume’s hair even more. Manjoume was not pleased.

Kenzan was also not pleased. With a growl, he removed his cool ass dino bandana and put it on top of Manjoume’s head. It flattened the fluff slightly, but not nearly enough.  This fluff was out of control and not even the power of dino dna could stop it.

Manjoume was slightly touched by Kenzan’s attempt to tame the fluff. He had also never seen Kenzan without his bandana. It was quite the sight. Not that he had horns or a weird shaped head, it was just weird to see him without it.

Shou frowned at Kenzan. “Why are you covering it? It’s cute! Aniki looks very cute with fluffy hair.”

“You were laughing at him - nobody laughs at aniki.”

“If you can’t love him with fluffy hair, you can’t love him at all!”

Manjoume did not have time for this weird spat. The sound of distant Ojamas caught his attention, and he spun around to see Judai waltz in like he owned the place.

“Big bro Judai, you better fix that,” Ojama Yellow warned, floating in after Judai.

“Aniki will get really mad if he sees you like that!” Ojama Black agreed nervously.

“Plus, we think you look pretty dumb too,” Ojama Green chuckled.

Manjoume was furious. What had Judai done to his hair?!?!??! His impeccably spiked hair had fallen flat and Judai had done NOTHING to fix it. Had he no shame? Or sense for what was good and just?

Shou let out another round of laughter at the new hair disaster that had just arrived. “Too bad you don’t have two bandanas, huh, Kenzan,” Misawa said with a slight chuckle.

“I wouldn’t help him anyway,” Kenzan said.

Well you know w ho would? Manjoume!!!!! He stomped over to Judai and circled him, assessing the DAMAGe the nerd had done to his hair. The room held their breath collectively as Manjoume and Judai interacted - was Manjoume gonna return Judai’s affections? Was Judai gonna get all crazy and lovey again? Were they about to witness……..real yaois?

Judai snorted when he saw Manjoume. “Nice bandana.”

“Your hair is disgusting,” Manjoume spat. “Did you even try to fix it?”

“I don’t know how to do your spikes,” Judai admitted. “They just kinda happened naturally in the morning, I never really gave it much thought…” He raised his hand up and brushed at Manjoume’s hair. “Look how fluffy you are.”

Manjoume reeled back from Judai’s touch. For some reason his heartbeat quickened and his face felt heated. The room gasped at the interaction. They were eating this up. M,m,,mm, delicious

“Fix this fluffy mess you call a head,” Manjoume said, gripping Judai’s arm and leading him out of the room. The room went nuts, but Manjoume ignored it, because he had bigger fish to fry. Judai looked around, bewildered, but Manjoume didn’t give him enough time to soak in that unwanted attention. He dragged the boy down the hall towards the bathroom with his arm in a death grip. “You’re not going to class until you fix this hair - because even though I hate you, I wouldn’t wish this hairdo on anyone.”

“You hate me?” Judai said, feigning an upset expression. He leaned up against a sink with his arms crossed and pouted. “You’re so mean.”

Manjoume sputtered uselessly, feeling himself grow red. “Shut up and fix this hair!”

And fix it he did. Manjoume stood there, gazing at himself in the mirror over Judai’s shoulder as the boy fiddled with the hair on his head. Afterwards, Manjoume would have to fix Judai’s hair too, because like hell was he going to let Judai wander around with his hair looking like he had been flattened underneath a steamroller or something.

He still wasn’t used to seeing Judai instead of himself in the mirror. And yet, he couldn’t find himself looking away from his reflection. Well, where else would he look, anyway? At Judai? No way jose, they were too close for that to be anything but awkward. And looking at the sink or somewhere else would just be unnatural.

Despite not wanting to look at Judai, his eyes were drawn over to him. Seeing, well, himself so close up was so weird. He was close enough that he could basically feel the heat coming from his skin, which was still slightly damp from the freak rainstorm. He could smell Judai, too, which was a little weird, but the boy smelt nice. Had he switched to a different shampoo than the one Manjoume normally used? He liked it. Maybe when they’d switch back he’d keep using it…

He felt himself growing tired as Judai’s hands worked through his hair. Judai kept mumbling something about how it NEVER got this fluffy, and asked what Manjoume had done to it. Manjoume didn’t answer, because he was too mellowed out by the sensation of having his hair played with. He zoned out as Judai complained, his mind preoccupied with the oddly pleasant scent of Judai.

“Manjoume,” Judai said after a while, shaking his shoulders slightly. “Are you falling asleep?”

“I didn’t sleep well,” Manjoume mumbled, still kinda zoned out. “Your friends are noisy.”

“I fixed your hair,” Judai said lamely. He obviously didn’t appreciate Manjoume calling his friends noisy - they were his lil bros, they weren’t noisy!! But Manjoume didn’t care. He stood there tiredly, looking at Judai blankly.

“You smell nice,” he said before thinking. As soon as it came from his lips he was slapped right back into reality. Judai was giving him an expression that said “dude, wtf” and Manjoume desperately backpedaled. “I- I- I mean, uh, d-did you switch shampoos?” Smooth move, Thunder.

Judai looked a little embarrassed. He looked down, a slight blush spreading over his face. “Yeah, I did. I ran out of the one you had, so I bought a new one, but they didn’t have your kind…”

“Spending more of my money,” Manjoume said stiffly. Judai nodded. There was a stretch of silence as Judai continued to look down, evidently feeling awkward after being SNIFFED BY MANJOUME. Manjoume was horrified. Manjoume couldn’t take this pressure, so he spun Judai around, getting him a surprised squeak from the other boy. “Let me fix your hair then we can go to class, okay?”

“Go for it,” Judai said, looking like he was back to normal as Manjoume attempted to respike his hair without any of his various Supplies he usually needed to get it looking PERFECT. How Judai had done it on his own without any prior knowledge of perfect hair styling was anyones guess.

As he ran his hands over his OWN head, Manjoume’s thoughts reeled in his head. Why the hell had he said that out loud? Why had he admitted to thinking Judai smelled nice? He felt himself heating up again and he did a half-hearted job of spiking his hair so they could get out of there sooner. “Let’s go to class,” Manjoume said quickly, leaving before Judai. Jeez louise, Manjoume. Not a cool move.

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

Manjoume lay with his head on his desk.

He was still mulling over his stupid outburst towards Judai earlier. It had been HOURS since, but it was still haunting him. It would likely haunt him for the rest of his life because it was just that embarrassing.

He felt the desk beneath his cheek shift as someone took the seat beside him. He prayed to every god he could think of that it wasn’t Judai, and thankfully the God’s answered his prayers, because instead of Judai beside him it was Fubuki. Not a TOTAL upgrade, but at least seeing Fubuki didn’t want to make Manjoume burn up and have his ashes blown away in the wind.

“Judai, my man,” Fubuki said, kicking up his legs onto the desk and leaning back like a cool guy. “How’s it going with Manjoume?”

Manjoume didn’t really feel like talking about it, especially after that display earlier. “We talked about this yesterday,” he said dryly.

Fubuki shrugged. “Things change quickly when teen love is involved.” He leaned forward, smirking at Manjoume. “Plus, I heard about you dragging Manjoume out of the classroom today!”

Manjoume really had no way to tell Fubuki the truth of why he dragged him out of the room - to fix his hair - so he made up the best excuse he could. “He...he wanted to trade cards with me.”

“In the middle of class?” Fubuki said, not buyin it.

“Yeah,” Manjoume said weakly, not sellin it.   
“C’mon, Judai,” Fubuki said exasperatingly. “If you’re not going to tell me the truth, you can count me out in any of your future love plans.”

Manjoume was NOT about to lose his teacher just because he didn’t feel like talking. He propped his chin up in his hand and mumbled into his palm.

“What?” Fubuki said, leaning in so close that his hair was tickling Manjoume’s nose. Why did he have to get that close? Because he was an old man, and his hearing was going. That’s what happens when you get old.

“I told him he smelled nice,” Manjoume said after getting his mouth out of his hand. It felt weird to say, because it was so embarrassing. He turned about 500 shades of red. “I didn’t mean to, it just happened.”

Fubuki looked 100% amused. “Ah, young love. So innocent.”

Innocent!! Manjoume turned 5000 more shades of red. What the heck was that Fubuki implying? That he wasn’t right to be embarrassed over something like this? Listen, buddy, it didn’t have to be SERIOUS ROMANCE for it to be embarrassing. “Don’t laugh,” Manjoume spat. This was no laughing matter.

“I think you should tell Manjoume how you feel...through a duel,” Fubuki said, predictably. That’s how Fubuki always suggested people to tell others how they feel. “Love is best communicated when you’re both doing something you love, after all.”

Manjoume wasn’t too sure about that. Duelling Asuka hadn’t gotten her to fall in love with him, tbh it just kinda made him look like more of a freak, but Fubuki got like, all the babes, so he knew a thing or two about love. Enough that Manjoume would follow his advice, at least - not that he was going to duel Judai. Judai bugging him to duel had been what had gotten them into this mess in the first place, after all!

“Tell you what,” Fubuki said, “It’s my lil sis’s bday in a week, and I was going to throw her a party in the blue dorms. Why don’t you invite Manjoume and come along? Teenage parties are where all the magic happens, after all…”

Fubuki winked. This was a lil weird bc he’s basically an old man, but whatever.

“Whatever,” Manjoume said. Although he DID want to go to that party. He had barely had a chance to see Asuka, with all that was going on - maybe he could get her a supper. a supper cool birthday gift, and she’d fall for him in an instant!

What did girls like? Perfume? Chocolates? He was busy thinking about this when Fubuki tapped him on the shoulder.

“Yoohoo? J-man?” He said. “I know you’re excited, but don’t go getting all lost in fantasy! Don’t worry, though - I’ll make sure there are PLENTY of opportunities for you to get your mack on…”

Manjoume wanted to wretch at that. KISS Judai? He thought his own body was hot stuff, not gonna lie, but kissing it would  be way too weird. He decided not to answer Fubuki, and the older boy smirked, apparently deciding to leave him with his own thoughts.

* * *

 

Nothing else interesting happened that day so we’re skippin to tomorrow. Why? Cuz im the author and i do as i please

For once, Manjoume was glad that Judai was Duel Academia’s little darling. Also that he was so bad at most of his classes, professors were glad to have him out of them. This was because the day of his long awaited (for like two chapters) interview with Monthly Duel!! had finally arrived, and he had skipped class to accompany Judai. He’d made it out that he was going with him because he was nervous (an obvious lie - Manjoume Thunder was NEVER nervous), but really he was going to make sure the other said nothing embarrassing… or incriminating.

Manjoume was SO FREAKIN’ JEALOUS. The reporter lady had brought an actual camera person, with actual cameras, and she promised that if he wasn’t on the cover he’d at least get a two page spread, and Manjoume would have been all about that if it had been HIM in his body. Instead, the pictures would probably have Judai making a stupid goofy face, and he’d probably do his dumbass gotcha thing for the camera. Oh lord. Good grief.

Judai was busy trying on hats that the lady had brought along for the shoot, which Manjoume thought was pointless, because he was always 500% stylish without anybody’s help, thank you. Judai turned, tipped the fedora he was wearing, and said, “M’njoume.”

Manjoume threw a book at him.

“Mr Judai!” The reporter barked, shortly, “Please don’t throw things at my star.”

Manjoume glared at her. He wanted to yell at her that HE was the star, but he didn’t want to risk getting thrown out, so he just sat back in the uncomfortable chair they’d given him to sit in and watch.

He had to admit, Judai didn’t do TOO badly… for a stupid idiot from osiris red. The pictures might actually turn out okay, even though the hat had crushed some of his spikes down a lil. And after all the effort he’d gone through showing him how to make them yesterday!!! Damn you, Judai.

Then came the interview. Thankfully, the questions that they started off with weren’t anything too personal, or about anything Judai wouldn’t know - Manjoume had been worried that they’d ask him about his activity in competitions before he’d met Judai, but they’d glossed over that. Which annoyed him, to be honest. He’d had some epic wins before coming to Duel Academia. Instead they stuck to boring stuff - what was life like here at school, how did it compare to what he’d done before? - which Judai managed to wing.

Then she asked, “What do you think has contributed the most to your growth as a duelist?”

If Manjoume had been answering it, he would have said something cool, like, “The only one responsible for my own success is Manjoume Thunder”. Yeah, that would have been sweet as hell. Unfortunately, he was not the one answering it.

“Well…… definitely all the people I’ve met,” Judai grinned. Manjoume groaned. That was the OPPOSITE of what he wanted to say! He didn’t have much time to be annoyed, though, because then Judai did something that would piss him off EVEN MORE!!! The other boy grabbed him in a headlock, smiling at the cameras the whole time. “Especially my buddy Judai here! He taught me that duels can be really fun… in fact, I’d say he taught me everything I know about duelling now! He really is the bees knees!!!!”

Manjoume, caught off guard, only stared dumbly at him. He was brought back to his senses when a flash nearly blinded him, and he realised they’d taken a PIC of them like that!!! This was HUMILIATING!

“The interview is over,” he said, standing up so suddenly his chair almost fell out from under him.

“What?” The reporter said, “But we’ve only just begun!”

“The interview is OVER,” he said, grabbing Judai’s wrist and yanking him in the direction of the exit. He hoped he was just imagining the click of the camera as they left. Well, at least they couldn’t run the story in the state they’d left it in! OR SO HE THOUGHT…


	11. Chapter 11

The rest of the week was uneventful. They had no progress on finding love, and no more news from Saiou. It was beginning to worry Manjoume how NORMAL being Judai was beginning to seem - he was still no good at acting like him, and his friends still annoyed him as much, but he was beginning to get used to seeing Judai’s face when he looked in the mirror. It disturbed him. They had to switch back ASAP.

Thankfully, they had a chance in the form of Asuka’s bday bash.  Fubuki had said he was going to help him and Judai hook up, but he was sure he could swing whatever opportunities his teach provided him with in the direction of wooing Asuka instead.

Buying a present was the tough part. Even with his immense wealth, there were only a few places on the island he could shop at… and he’d left it so late that it was impossible to order something instead. Damn it! If he hadn’t been so caught up in this stupid situation, he was sure he would have remembered and got her something AWESOME. Instead he’d have to settle for whatever the school gift shop sold, and when he arrived at the dorm, he saw that three other people had already bought her the Duel Academia mug full of chocolates. Damn.

“Hey, Manjoume,” she said when he arrived, taking the present off him and looking disappointed when she opened it. “Uh… thanks.”

“Sorry it’s not much,” Manjoume said, feeling awkward.

“No, it’s whatever. Fubuki threw this thing on such short notice, I’m surprised anyone even bothered to buy gifts.”

She put it down on the table and headed over to the bed, sitting on it. Fubuki had thrown the party in his own room, which was about as big as the entire red dorm. Only a few people had arrived so far - Shou and Kenzan (wtf, why invite those nerds?), who were lookin a lil awkward, and Hell Kaiser, who was looking surly in a seat over by the window. Asuka’s two best friends were gigglin and watching him, no doubt gossiping about what a dreamboat he was.

“You deserve a better party than this,” Manjoume said, unimpressed by the balloons and the sloppily written HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASUKA! banner.

“Oh, whatever. We’re only throwing this because Fubuki thinks he’s got some AMAZING idea to hook you up with someone,” Asuka said, eating some of the chips set out on a table. “I think it’s the dumbest idea he’s ever had, but maybe it’ll help you guys out. Who does he want to set you up with, by the way? He hasn’t mentioned it to me. It better not be me.”

“It’s not you,” Manjoume replied, before adding a sorrowful, “But I wish it was.”

“Gonna pretend I didn’t hear that,” Asuka said. She looked up as the door to the room opened, and Fubuki entered, Judai not far behind.

“Good,” Fubuki said. “Looks like everyone’s here. We can get started!”

“This is it?” Asuka asked. Even if she hadn’t wanted a party in the first place, she seemed unimpressed with what Fubuki had managed. Someone with her brother’s influence should have been able to throw something a bit more… well, lively.

“I wanted to keep it small, Asuka. Isn’t it good to spend your birthday with your closest friends?”

That was  a bad lie. Especially when Shou and Kenzan were there.

“Anyway, let’s get started! I’ve planned SUCH a fun party,” Fubuki said, clapping his hands together. “First off, we need to get in a circle - we’re gonna play spin the bottle.”

“Spin the bottle,” Asuka said flatly, “What’s that?”

“Well, sit in a circle and I’ll explain.”

They did sit in a circle, some more reluctantly than others. Once they were seated, Fubuki took a deep breath, and said:

“Spin the Bottle is a [party game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_game) in which several players sit/stand/kneel in a circle. A bottle is placed on the floor in the center of the circle. A player spins the [bottle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottle), and must [kiss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss) the person to whom the bottle points when it stops spinning. “

“What,” Kaiser said, “Why would we do that?”

“Because it’s FUN,” Fubuki huffed.

“It doesn’t sound fun,” Asuka folded her arms across her chest. Fubuki shot her a glare, and she sighed. “Fine, whatever, let’s play this stupid game.”

“Good! I’ll go first, so everyone knows how to play.” As if the rules weren’t explained enough already. He leant forward and spun the bottle - it landed on Junko, who nearly fainted at the THOUGHT of kissing Fubuki! I mean, so would I, but for entirely different reasons. Fubuki crawled across the middle of the circle awkwardly, and planted a BIG ONE right on her lips. IT took her a full thirty seconds to recover.

“Okay, now you go,” he said to her.

She spun it. Manjoume tried to ignore the face she made when it landed on him, and while he was glad that she didn’t just lay a WET ONE on him (his lips were for Asuka and Asuka alone), he was a lil miffed that she smooched him for like 0.000043 seconds before scooting back into her space.

“Judai, your turn!” Fubuki shouted, sounding delighted. Almost as if… everything was going to plan… Manjoume did not like the sudden aura in the room. He spun the bottle, and a collective gasp (Kaiser excluded, bc he didn’t really give a shit) rose up when it landed on……….. JUDAI!

“WHAT ARE THE ODDS,” Fubuki said, not sounding surprised at all.

“Oh my gosh,” Shou said. “A-aniki…………………”

Manjoume’s head whipped towards Fubuki at the speed of sound.

“Can I spin again?” he asked. “I landed on a BOY, for crying out loud.”

“Sorry, J-man,” Fubuki said, with a wink, as though he thought Manjoume was just playin’. “That’s the rules of the game.”

Manjoume sighed. Fortunately, he was sitting next to Judai, so this was easy in one respect. The hard part was everything else about it. Judai had at least had the sense to stay quiet and not cause a fuss - though the fact that he wasn’t saying stuff that would make Manjoume MORE flustered was kinda weird. Whatever. Manjoume leant forward and, quickly….. gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Oh,” Fubuki said, sounding disapppointed. “Oh. Well that’ll do, I guess.” He quickly brightened up. “Manjoume, your shot!”

Judai spun the bottle. To Manjoume’s horror, it landed on HIM!

“WOW! What are the CHANCES of this happening,” Fubuki grinned, and nudged Manjoume n winked. Manjoume wanted to curl up and die. This time, Judai kissed HIM on the cheek, and he blushed as red as the stupid red uniform he was wearing.

Why was this making him so embarrassed! It had to be all the ppl looking at him. He was used to getting attention, of course, and actively sought it out, but this was not the kind of focus on him he wanted. He tried to ignore how his hands were shaking as he spun the bottle again.

And again… it landed on…

“Judai!” Fubuki whooped, “I can’t believe you got Manjoume again! This is just CRAZY.”

Manjoume grit his teeth into tiny nubs, probably the fifth time he’s done this. Will he ever learn? Judai stared straight ahead, across to the other side of the circle, so at least Manjoume didn’t have to deal with any awkward eye contact… if he could just get this kiss over with, surely this torment would be over. After all, there wasn’t any way they could possibly get each other again - that would just be TOO much of a coincidence.

He leant forward, puckerin up… and just as he went in for the kiss, the door slammed open and Judai’s head whipped to the left. Manjoume’s lips landed right on his!!! they were full on SMOOCHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! omg!!!!

There was a thump that was Shou fainting, but MAnjoume didn’t notice because he’d already stood up and turned towards the door that led out onto the balcony. He felt weird and light headed, but he managed to process the visual information that was comin into his eyes to see, of all things, it had been Daitokujis DUMBASS CAT that had burst into the dorm. Damn you Pharaoh.

“I’m going to get some fresh air,” he said, and before anyone had a chance to protest - not that anyone seemed to want to, not even Fubuki - he stalked out onto the balcony.

His face felt like it was on fire and, more worryingly, his heart was beating like he had just run a mile. That was only because he had been HUMILIATED in front of that many people, right? And totally not because he’d kissed Judai. Although he didn’t want to, he remembered what Shou had said about your heart going doki doki when you thought of someone you liked, and immediately pushed the thought out of his mind. What did that pipsqueak know about liking someone? The only person he liked was dark magician girl.

It’s because you’re embarrassed, he told himself. And definitely not because Judai’s lips had been really soft, like wtf, had he started putting lip balm on them?

No- now that he thought about it, it was because he was ANGRY. People had seen that and now they’d jump to all sorts of stupid conclusions about why he’d left! He was angry at them for assuming stuff like he wanted to kiss Judai, and he had left because of a serious case of the dokis. He was even angrier at Fubuki, who he was sure had something to do with how they’d gotten each other three times in a row. He’d rigged that bottle somehow, there was no doubt in Manjoume’s mind. How? He didn’t know how, perhaps with upperclassman magic.

He peered over the edge of the balcony. Fubuki’s room was only on the second floor of the dorm, but Manjoume wondered if that would be enough to kill him. He was tempted to try it when the door opened, and he looked back to see Judai, standing there a lil awkwardly.

“Sorry about that,” he said, after a moment’s hesitation.

“About what?” Manjoume decided to play it cool. Act like it hadn’t bothered him, no matter how obviously it had ruffled his ridges.

“About… y’know. Accidentally getting some lip action in that kiss. Pharaoh surprised me.” Judai grinned, and moved forward to lean on the railing of the balcony. “Still, you’ve gotta admit, your lips are a lot less chapped since I started using this lip balm.”

Manjoume sniffed, and tried not to think about how he’d tasted coconut when their lips had accidentally mashed together.

“You need to take better care of mine,” Judai said. “I’ll give you the lip balm if you want, it’s really good-”

“As if I want to touch something your MOUTH has been on,” Manjoume snapped, a lil defensively considering Judai’s current mouth was technically his mouth. Judai held up his hands.

“I meant I’d buy you a new one!”

Manjoume shook his head. He wanted to end this conversation now. He wanted to go back to his own dorm, curl up in bed, and forget this whole evening had never even happened.

“Why don’t you come back inside?” Judai asked. “Fubuki’s got a new game for us to play - he says it’s even better than the last.”

Manjoume was sure that even better actually meant no good at all, but it was getting cold out on the balcony, so he decided to move inside. He reentered the room just in time to hear Fubuki’s explanation of their next party game.

“Seven minutes in heaven is a teenagers' [party game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_game) first recorded as being played in [Cincinnati](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati) in the early 1950s. Two people are selected to go into a closet or other dark enclosed space and do whatever they like for seven minutes. It is common for the participants to kiss, touch each other, but participants may instead choose to talk, engage in some other (usually quiet) activity, or do nothing at all.”

Oh no. Oh no. Manjoume did not like where this is going.

“Asuka, you’re the birthday girl,” Fubuki said, “Why don’t you pick who goes first?”

Asuka opened her mouth, probably to say that this was the stupides tthing she’d ever heard of, but Fubuki interrupted.

“Thankfully, since you’re my little sister, I know EXACTLY who you were going to say, and I completely agree!” Fubuki turned and grabbed Manjoume by the collar just as he was trying to sneak off. “Judai, Manjoume, you’re up first!”

He didn’t even have a chance to protest before he and Judai had both been bundled into the closet, and the light disappeared as Fubuki slammed the door. He could hear a muffled “aniki, ganbatte!!!!!!!!” from Shou and Kenzan, and then it fell silent… on both sides of the closet door.

Judai shuffled next to him, obviously trying to get comfortable. Instead, he stood on Manjoume’s foot, and muttered a sorry when he let out a hiss of pain.

“You idiot, stay still,” Manjoume snapped, but Judai continued to fidget. “What are you DOING?”

“I’m just… okay, got it,” Judai answered, and the reason behind his actions came to light (heh) as he tugged his cell phone out of his pocket. The screen was small but bright, and illuminated the small space pretty well.

Manjoume found himself far closer to his own body that he’d ever like. He caught his own eyes and looked away quickly. He tried to rearrange himself into a slightly more comfortable position, and found himself pressing against Judai even more. Awkward.

“This is the worst game ever,” he said, untangling himself from some of the coats that he’d gotten caught up in in his attempt to put more space between him and Judai.

“Do you think he’s going to let us out in seven minutes?” Judai said, sounding concerned.

“He better, or I’ll knock his head off his shoulders wth his stupid tiny guitar, teacher or no teacher,” Manjoume spat. The smell of mothballs in the closet was getting to him - he felt a little woozy, and maybe it was claustrophobia setting in, but he felt light-headed, too…

“Manjoume?” Judai’s voice sounded distand. “Are you okay?”

He felt himself falling forward, but he lacked the energy to try and steady himself. He felt Judai’s back hit the opposite wall through his body as he landed against his chest, and Judai’s arms went round him in an attempt to hold him up.

“Whoa!” Judai shook him a little, and he slumped against his chest even more, the side of his face firmly in the center of him. “Hey, Manjoume? Are you okay?”

Of course I’m not okay, idiot, Manjoume thought scathingly, and he wished he could find the strength to spit that out with appropriate venom. But he was tired, and the closet was too warm, and Judai’s chest was too comfy to move from… he realised with sudden clarity that he must be getting ill, and relief swelled up inside him. Of course! That totally explained his flushed face, his heart going doki doki! He was SICK!

That totally did not explain why Judai’s heart was thumping too, but he couldn’t bring himself to care much about that. He nuzzled against Judai’s chest even more, listening to the thrum of his heart - it was soothing, and it was probably a good thing he’d forget all about this later, or else he’d DIE of embarrassment. As it was, though, he was only vaguely aware when Fubuki threw the closet door open to reveal them in a v. compromising position, and he didn’t even notice the weird atmosphere that hung over them  while Asuka, eternally the only person in this story with an ounce of common sense, went to go fetch the nurse.

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

He was shivering when he woke up, even though he was roasting. Someone was smoothing a cool pack onto his forehead- Judai? he thought, and then wondered why he was thinking of that idiot at a time like this. But the hands were too small to be Judai’s. Probably Shou, he thought.

He forced his eyes open. Instead he found himself looking at Asuka, and they widened. When he tried to say her name, it came out as a croak.

“Don’t try to speak,” she said. With the cool pack firmly stuck on his forehead, she tugged her gloves back on, and leaned over to the bedside table. “Do you want a drink?”

He nodded and rolled over, propping himself up just enough to take a sip. Even that exhausted him. What was with this sudden bout of illness? It was almost as though it was a cheap plot device that was poorly planned out? Oh well, he wouldn’t dwell on it. It was probably because he was in Judai’s body - he didn’t know how lots of things felt in Judai’s body, and he didn’t know what it would be like to be SICK in it, so there was no way he could have seen this illness coming. Yeah, that made enough sense

“Where am I?” He managed to ask, albeit with a hoarse voice. Once his vision had focussed some, he realised he wasn’t in Fubuki’s room, or his own, and definitely not Judai’s - the room had a distinct obelisk blue dorm feel to it, but it wasn’t any room he’d ever been in.

“We moved you to my room. Junko and Momoe wanted to keep hanging out with Fubuki in his, and mine was closest.”

Wow, thanks guys, Manjoume thought, though he wasn’t exactly surprised. It wasn’t like either of Asuka’s friends were overly fond of Judai - although it stung a bit that Fubuki hadn’t come with him.

But still, he was in Asuka’s room! Although while he’d always wanted to get in her bed, this had NOT been what he’d had in mind… he nestled into the sheets, hoping to catch a whiff of that elusive Tenjouin-kun scent.

“I changed the sheets before I put you in my bed, you weirdo,” Asuka said sharply.

Manjoume was disappointed, but not TOO disappointed, which worried him. A couple of weeks ago, it would have devastated him!!! Now it just seemed like a minor inconvenience to not be able to sniff Asuka’s bedspread like a creepy sex pest. Blame it on the fever, he thought, and he looked over to her bedside table. There were a couple of magazines on it, and he just couldn’t imagine her reading all those celebrity gossip mags. It just didn’t seem like a thing his beloved Asuka would do.

She noticed his staring at her magazines and leaned forward, taking one off of the pile. She flipped through the pages absently, but seemed pleased to have a distraction. “Judai told me that you got invited to an interview for that duel magazine. Congratulations.”

“Judai was the one getting interviewed,” Manjoume said hoarsely, despite Asuka so sternly telling him not to speak. He felt even more tired after doing it, and realized that following Asuka’s advice was probably a good idea.

Asuka nodded. “He told me that, too. You sure are unlucky, aren’t you? You swapped bodies just before getting the chance of a lifetime.”

Well, geez, she didn’t have to rub it in like that! Manjoume scowled, pulling the covers up closer to his face.

There was a moment of quiet as Asuka flipped through the pages of her magazine. “Are you really trying to fall in love with Judai?”

The question came out of nowhere and smacked Manjoume hard. He went to yell “of course not!!! You’re the only one for me!!!” but he merely squawked and fell back, grabbing the water from the side table and taking a big gulp. He couldn’t believe that she thought he would actually go after Judai when she was RIGHT THERE! It was all just a misunderstanding that her brother was getting out of hand, right?

Asuka seemed amused by Manjoume’s reaction, given by the smirk on her face. “Don’t freak out. I was just asking.”

Manjoume did not have time to ask why she would ask something so PREPOSTEROUS, because the door to her room opened and in came a concerned looking Judai, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Yo, Asuka,” he said as he came over and plopped himself down beside Manjoume on the bed. Manjoume felt nervous, being this close to Judai, even though they weren’t close at all, really. Judai scratched at his head, looking frustrated. “Manjoume, you have to take care of my body! You’ve fallen sick like a thousand times this week alone!”

Manjoume felt a weird pang of disappointment at Judai’s concern for his body and nothing else, but he shrugged it off, rolling to his side so he wasn’t facing him.

“Manjoume!” Judai exclaimed.

“We should let him rest,” Asuka said, but Judai was not budging. Manjoume was secretly wishing that Judai would get out of there, but it didn’t appear as if though the slacker was going anywhere anytime soon. “Fine,” Asuka finally conceded, slapping the magazine she was holding into Judai’s lap. “You keep track of his fever - I’m going to save Junko and Momoe from my brother.”

Manjoume sweat nervously as he listened to Asuka’s footsteps get quieter and quieter until he couldn’t hear them anymore. A deafening silence fell over him and Judai. He listened as Judai set the magazine back down on the bedside table, and then the silence resumed. Why wasn’t he talking? Manjoume thought nervously. His nervous thoughts made him feel jittery.  Why am I so nervous? It’s just Judai…

Sick of the quiet, he rolled back over, and let out a surprised squeak when his eyes met with Judai’s.

“You don’t have to stay,” Manjoume said at the same time as Judai said “Are you okay?”

They fell into an awkward silence. Judai frowned, looking away. Manjoume reached over to the glass to drink more water, and as he drank, Judai spoke up again. “You really scared me back there. You like passed out. Are you claustrophobic? I never thought you would be.”

Manjoume shook his head, then nodded, then shrugged. Who knew what was up? Not me.

Judai watched Manjoume’s hand as he set the glass back down. Manjoume felt awkward- speaking hurt too much at the moment, so he couldn’t break the silence with words, only grunts, and he wasn’t about to do that. That’d just add to the weirdness of this, probably. He wasn’t used to seeing Judai in such a melancholy mood, and especially wasn’t used to seeing his own face looking like that. He wasn't really sure what to do.

Just as he was mulling over what to do, Judai looked over to him again, his eyebrows furrowed still. Manjoume watched with half horror, half……….anticipation?! as Judai leaned down, putting their faces closer and closer as the seconds went on. Manjoume froze up when Judai’s lips met his own. He stared, wide eyed, at Judai’s serene expression. What? What? What??? Was this a fever dream?

It wasn’t. Judai broke the kiss only to do it again, his expression tightened more. Manjoume was still shocked, but found himself...enjoying it? I mean, not that he’d ever enjoy kissing Judai!!! But Judai’s face felt cool against his own as their skin touched, which was NICE MANJOUME GUESSED. He felt himself kissing back, and as soon as he did so Judai’s weight shifted so he was basically hovering over him, bringing their faces even closer together. Manjoume felt lightheaded, but he wasn’t necessarily hating it…Not that he’d ever say that out loud!!! He brought his hand up and out from underneath the covers and cautiously touched Judai’s shoulder. At the touch, Judai pulled away with a jolt, his eyes wide, leaving Manjoume looking up at him, breathless.

“Sorry,” he said, before standing up from the bed, still looking at Manjoume with a shocked expression. He reached up and covered his mouth. “Sorry.” He repeated, voice sounding slightly panicked. He turned away from Manjoume, his shoulders tensed. “I’ll go get another ice pack for you. I’ll be right back.”

Manjoume watched him leave, his expression transforming from blankly shocked to COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY HORRIFIED. If he was any more embarrassed, steam would be coming out of his ears!! He buried himself beneath the covers, but the muffled silence only provided to make the quick thudding of his heart louder and more prominent.

What the hell was Judai thinking? Why was he kissing him like that? It was completely different from the kiss before - it hadn’t been an ACCIDENT! It was on purpose! Judai had intentionally kissed him!!! A real kiss!!!!!! What the dickens!!! That hadn’t been mentioned by Fubuki!!!!

He had no idea in the world why Judai had done that. Was the other boy feeling sick too? He hadn’t felt hot…..in fact, he had felt positively CHILLY. Maybe he was getting sick!!!!! That would be the only way that smooch made sense!!!!

But the more he thought about it, the less that reasoning made sense. He was struggling to rationalize the kiss at all. What he was struggling with even more was why he had kissed the boy back. He thought that he was a handsome dude, but kissing himself? Kinda weird.

As he thought nervously about this, he heard footsteps coming towards the bed again. He held his breath as someone sat down on the edge of the bed. He trembled as he pulled back the covers to see……….

“You look sicker than ever,” Asuka said flatly. Manjoume let out a huge gasp of breath, relaxing, loose-limbed, onto the bed. Asuka gently placed a new ice pack onto his forehead, which felt amazing.

“I thought you were Judai,” Manjoume muttered, reaching up and adjusting the pack on his face.

Asuka didn’t say anything, and Manjoume was grateful. He had to think about his life, his choices, and more importantly, what the hell Judai was thinking.

I’ll confront him tomorrow, when I’m feeling better, he thought. Yet, the thought of meeting Judai after THAT made him feel slightly sick……….oh well. Manjoume Thunder was not going to back down from Judai, especially not over something like that.

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

The next day Manjoume felt refreshed as hell. Possibly because he spent the night in the Obelisk Blue dorms, a place he had been sorely missing. Also, he had the lovely Asuka tending to him all night, which was a blessing in itself.

Feeling refreshed gave him a confidence boost as he strolled out of Asuka’s room. He felt at home in the Obelisk dorms, even though he hadn’t been there for nearly a week (or something, idk time). Even with Judai’s stupid Osiris Red uniform, he felt perfectly at ease in the pristine hallways of Obelisk Blue!!!!

He came to a stop in front of his own dorm room. Technically it was Judai’s for the moment, but on the grand scheme of things, it was his. All the stuff in there? His. No question. He didn’t really want to go in, because he was dreading seeing what Judai could have done to his stuff, but he had MADE UP HIS MIND to talk to Judai like a civilized almost-adult and to ask why he had done what he did yesterday.

He couldn’t think about it in specifics, because when he did, all his words came out in jumbled nonsense and his thoughts became useless, so whatever. Thinking about the…..thing vaguely was good enough for him.

Manjoume rapped his knuckles against the door. He didn’t hear anything on the other side, which made him nervous. This was not going according to the plan he had set up in his mind.

(For the record, the plan he had set up in his mind was this: he’d go over to Judai’s room, Judai would answer, he would tell Manjoume that he had kissed him in a feverish haze, Manjoume would laugh it off, saying that Judai was narcissistic for wanting to kiss himself, lol, then they’d go about their quest for true love, hopefully without Fubuki interfering and trying to pair them together, and Manjoume would marry Asuka and they’d live happily forever and ever. The End.)

So Judai not answering his door was not on his list of things that could happen. He knocked again, with more force. “Judai!” He called, then, realizing where he was, corrected himself, “Uh, Manjoume!”

The door still did not open. Okay, now Manjoume was REALLY messed up. This was not going to plan!! He stood there for a few seconds, wishing his confidence back, when someone calling his name got his attention.

“Judai?” It was some Obelisk Blue dude that Manjoume recognized, but didn’t know the name of. “Are you looking for Manjoume? He just went to breakfast…”

Manjoume took off like a bat out of hell for the cafeteria. Sure enough, Judai was down in the Obelisk Blue cafeteria, sitting off by himself, talking cheerfully with the Ojama Trio and even FEEDING THEM some of his food. What kinda carefree asshole…………………..did this guy…….think he was…………………

Manjoume stood there and watched him for a while, heart beating fast. This was totally off the plan. He was never going to marry Asuka at this rate. He wasn’t even going to talk to Judai in the first place, because just looking at him made Manjoume freeze up entirely. This was all wrong.

Someone finally noticed him standing there like a total creep, and got Judai’s attention about it. Judai looked excited to see Manjoume, for whatever reason Manjoume could not comprehend, and waved him over.

Manjoume walked over robotically, sweating nervously as everyone looked at him, the lone red student amongst a world of blue uniforms. Also, he was Judai, which got everyone’s attention naturally.

“You stayed overnight in Asuka’s room?” Judai asked as Manjoume slid into the seat across from him. Manjoume nodded stiffly and Judai laughed. “I hope no one saw you leaving. There’s going to be rumors about you two now. Luckily Asuka has thick skin.”

Manjoume could not believe what he was hearing. He was hearing a COMPLETELY CASUAL JUDAI, even after what had happened the day before. Had he just imagined it????? WTF??

“I think we have a test today,” Judai continued, spreading some butter onto a piece of _**delicious** _ toast. “I heard some kids talking about it. I know you’re super weird about missing tests, so I’ll probably go and wing it…”

“Are you serious?” Manjoume spat, finally finding his voice. Judai looked surprised. The Ojamas stopped their usual jabbering at the outburst, looking at their TRUE aniki with similarly surprised expressions. Manjoume gripped the edge of the table. “Why are you acting so...so...casual?”

Judai’s smile drooped and he set his _**delicious** _ toast down. “Manjoume-”

“You’re ruining my plans,” Manjoume said. He didn’t bother to let Judai in on the minute details of his now failed plan. He stood up, glaring down at Judai. “I’m not going to the test, I hope you fail!!”

He went to walk away when Judai grabbed his wrist. The Ojamas disappeared quickly, not feelin like getting involved in the drams. “Come with me,” Judai said, standing up from his breakfast and leaving behind his _**delicious**_ toast. Just kidding, he grabbed it before walking away with Manjoume. No one should ever leave that _**delicious**_ toast behind.

Manjoume let himself be dragged along by Judai (who ate that _**delicious**_ toast like it owed him money), despite the anger boiling inside of him and the embarrassment from all the gazes they got. Judai dragged him aaall the way back to his room, and by his room I mean Manjoume’s Obelisk Blue dorm room. Listen, this body swap stuff is confusing. Judai released Manjoume’s wrist when they finally got inside, and Manjoume felt a little better about this whole thing - at least this was IN his plans.

But before he could commence the plan, Judai spoke in a rushed voice, his eyes lowered. “Listen, Manjoume. If you don’t want to talk about yesterday, it’s fine. The party, afterwards, whatever - I found out about Fubuki trying to get us together from Asuka, plus, Fubuki wasn’t very good at hiding it. I went along with it because I thought it’s what you wanted, but if it’s not, it’s whatever. We’re still buds.”

Manjoume stared at him, speechless. That is not what he had expected to hear. Also not what he had wanted to talk about. “N-no,” Manjoume said, confused. “Uh, I was going to ask about the...the, uh, afterwards...I guess…”

Judai shrugged nonchalantly. It made Manjoume a little mad. “Like I said, I thought it was what you wanted. You told Fubuki you liked me, after all...or, I guess, you liked yourself.”

Manjoume could not believe the GALL of Judai!

“Well, it’s not what I wanted,” Manjoume snapped, glaring at Judai. How could one person be so STUPID? “I only told Fubuki that so he would stop annoying me. You’d have to be some sort of idiot not to realise that. As if I could ever like YOU.”

He turned and stalked off, his hands curled into fists by his side, his shoulders squared tensely.

“Hey, Judai!” Some stupid Osiris Red nerd he didn’t know said as he stomped past, “Where are you going?”

“To wash my mouth out with soap,” he grumbled, and the red boy only stared at him blankly, which pissed him off even more. Stupid Judai, stupid reds, stupid Fubuki…

The more rational part of himself knew he shouldn’t be THIS pissed off at Judai. The other had done worse in the past, after all, and he’d had good intentions - really, it was Fubuki who was fully to blame for what had happened. But while he was pissed off at Fubuki, he was FURIOUS with Judai… and he didn’t really know why.

He brushed past someone in the crowded corridor and was so caught up in his thoughts that he barely even heard them shout after him- he only came back to reality when he felt them catch the back of his jacket, and he turned round to see Shou, who seemingly was out of breath.

“Aniki!” The other panted, adjusting his glasses and squinting at him before saying, “Where are you going? Class is in the other direction, we’ll be late!”

“I’m not going.”

Manjoume expected the other to give up once he’d said that and started walking again. They had a test, after all, and Shou was a stickler for keeping up in class - but instead the other trailed after him.

“What do you mean you’re not going! We have a test. If you miss this one, you’re gonna fail the whole class. You can’t-” Shou stopped talking suddenly, as if he’d only just realised something. “Aniki, are you still thinking about last night?”

“No,” Manjoume said, maybe a little too quickly for it to be convincing. “No, I’m not. I still feel sick. I’m going back to our room to lie down.”

Shou frowned. “You’ve been sick a lot lately! You have to be careful. We’re all worried about you.”

Manjoume shrugged, but Shou’s concerned tone gave him something to think about. He had been sick far too often - and even when he wasn’t, he’d never felt quite right in Judai’s body. He didn’t sleep well and food tasted weird. Maybe that was to be expected, except Judai hadn’t seemed to have the same problems.

This was annoying. That idiot had all the luck, even when it came to things like this.

Shou made sure he was tucked up in bed before he left, complaining loudly about how he’d have to run to get to class in time. I hope you miss it, Manjoume thought, before closing his eyes. He’d meant to only rest, but he fell asleep.

The dream he found himself in was familiar. Really, it was more like a memory he was reliving than a dream - he found his subconscious remembering the time they had been trapped within Daitokuji’s shadow item. That had been frightening, but there had been one thing that had kept him strong - the love that he had felt radiating towards him from his beloved…

Judai?

No, it had been Asuka he’d felt love from then. It had been her emotions, ones so pure and sweet that only a teenage girl can feel, that he’d experienced. So why was it Judai he was looking at now?!?!?!

“What the hell are you doing here?” Manjoume asked, grinding his teeth. Due to the magic of this being a dream, they did not grind down into nubs. “You’re not supposed to BE here!”

Judai didn’t answer him. Instead, he just smiled cryptically.

He woke up. Thank god it was all a dream!!! He didn’t bother dwelling too much on it, because dreams didn’t mean anything, after all, and he’d much rather believe that than delve too deeply into why it had been Judai he’d been dreaming about instead of Asuka. He rolled over, checked his clock, and saw that somehow he’d slept into the afternoon. Class would be over soon. He pulled himself out of bed, still feeling sluggish, and thought he might go somewhere else before Shou and Kenzan got back. Preferably somewhere where nobody who had been at the party would be, especially not Judai, because he might just DIE of embarrassment if he saw any of them again.

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

Manjoume ended up sitting by himself by the beach, brooding in the shadows of a stray beach umbrella. Though typically the sandy place was bustling with activity, today it was quiet af. Manjoume was alone with his thoughts and the sounds of the calm waves crashing up against the coast.

He was glad for it though. He wasn’t feelin like seeing anyone else. Unfortunately, Winged Kuriboh had shown up, so he wasn’t totally alone, but he didn’t understand the fuzzy monster anyway.

The Kuriboh bounced around in the water as Manjoume sulked. He was thinking about all sorts of things - how the hell he was going to get out of this stupid body, when Saiou would get back to them, when Judai would stop pissing him off so much (though he already knew the answer - never). He scowled whenever his thoughts returned to the stupid Judai. He just wished that this would all be over with so he wouldn’t have to even think about the dude anymore.

He had to find true love, and find it fast. Faster than lightning. Faster than something else that is fast. The faster he fell in love (preferably with Asuka, but now he was getting desperate) the faster this would be over and he would be out of this situation, and everything would go back to normal.

Winged Kuriboh made an excited noise (it sounded something like a very happy child yelling “wooooooo!!!”) and Manjoume frowned. Did it have to be so loud? No wonder it was Judai’s spirit monster, it was just as loud, and as fuzzy, as him.

“Shut up,” he said, but there wasn’t any venom behind it. He just wanted some quiet and it was NOT giving him that. “You stupid fuzzball…”

It looked over at him with sad eyes, but Manjoume was not swayed. It flew over to him and nuzzled against him. Manjoume wanted to shove it away, but it was kind of comforting, so he let it do whatever. Maybe it forgot that he wasn’t really Judai for a hot second.

He sat there, enjoying the silence for a few minutes, when a loud yell startled him. “Aniki!” It was that Kenzan dude’s voice. Manjoume had half a mind to run and hide in the bushes, because what the hell, how did that dino dude know he was here in the first place, but then he was like nah. “Aniki!!”

Manjoume looked up as Kenzan came plowing through the sand, kicking up piles of the stuff with his big ass combat boots. Who even wore combat boots? Apparently Kenzan did. “What?” He asked, annoyed that he had been found. Winged Kuriboh faded away as Kenzan fell to his knees beside him, breathing heavily from all that running. “What do you want?”

“Aniki!” Kenzan said that stupid nickname again. He had a magazine clenched in his mighty fist. It looked like it was a new issue of the magazine Asuka had on her bedside table. He spread it out on Manjoume’s leg. “Look at this. You’re on the cover!”

“What?” Manjoume looked down at the magazine, feeling antsy. Had the interview already been published? Geez, duel magazine worked fast! They were a biweekly publication after all. That means two times a week right? Idk. Call me later about it. Indeed, there was a picture of Manjoume on the front (Judai as him, of course) but in the corner...beneath a title in bold impact font….there was indeed a picture of him grasping Judai’s hand as he pulled him out of the interview. Dread filled Manjoume. Oh god, he thought. What kind of scandalous nonsense had they come up with?

He flipped quickly through the pages, getting to the main story about them. There was the interview, which was standard save for the occasional weird things Judai had said, but then beneath it, in a tabloid-esque fashion, there was another article…

“Manjoume Jun says that Judai Yuki is just a friend. But th[e](http://www.people.com/people/jonas_brothers) Osiris Red cutie fueled all those "Are they an item?" rumors when he turned up at the duel prodigy’s interview on Saturday afternoon.

Judai, 16, arrived at the interview with our reporters just as Manjoume, 16, settled down to chat to us.

He watched only his interview, then interrupted as soon as he started talking about their relationship" says Rivera-san, a camera man who shot the juicy snaps of the pair leaving. "As soon as Manjoume started talking about him, he dragged him right out of there! It was real obvious he didn't want people to know SOMETHING about what Manjoume was saying..."

Asked whether the two are dating, teacher at Duel Academia, Chronos de Medici, said: "They are friends and he’s friends with all the Osiris Reds. Mama mia." A rep for Judai Yuki, Daitokuji, had no comment, possibly because he is dead and his spirit is trapped in the belly of his four-legged friend, Pharaoh the cat.”

Manjoume clenched the magazine so hard in his fists that it nearly destroyed the whole dang thing. Kenzan looked concerned. Manjoume did not need his CONCERN. What he needed was to contact this magazine asap, and get them to pull this GODFORSAKEN MAGAZINE FROM THE SHELVES!!!!!!! This was truly slanderous!!!!

“Aniki,” Kenzan said awkwardly, carefully prying Manjoume’s fingers from the pages. “Why did you go to Manjoume’s interview?”

“I had to make sure he didn’t fuck UP,” Manjoume was boiling with rage. “But he still fucked up! He fucked up bad!!”

“Calm down,” Kenzan tried, but Manjoume was already off the deep end!! Today was so bad!!!

“God, why does this keep happening!!!” He continued, rubbing at his head. “How does everything keep messing up!!!!”

Kenzan looked uncomfortable. He pat Manjoume’s shoulder, his face softened with some kinda sympathy. “Aniki, this has been a hard week for you, hasn’t it...man, Manjoume is really making things hard isn’t he…”

“Yeah, it’s his fault,” Manjoume agreed, seething.

“He’s a jerk,” Kenzan agreed. He didn’t really know what else to say, tbh. Manjoume was going crazy, and he had never seen his aniki this mad. Maybe Shou should have gone to console him instead. “You could do better.”

Manjoume paused in his rage. He had forgotten, for a split second, that he, as Judai, supposedly had a crush on Judai as Manjoume Thunder. To everyone other than Asuka, Chronos, and Judai himself, this was all because he was crazy in love with Judai. No one truly understood what was going on, and how the whole love thing was really throwing a wrench into his and Judai’s need to find true love.

Thinking about true love now made him feel sick. “I don’t love him,” Manjoume said in a gravelly voice, standing up. Kenzan scrambled to stand up with him. “I didn’t love him and I won’t love him, okay? Tell Shou that, too, and Fubuki when you see him.” He stalked off, leaving Kenzan there to gape uselessly on his own. He needed to get serious, and fast. They still didn’t know when Saiou was going to come, or even get back to them. He had to take initiative and stop letting Judai joke around with him. He HAD to get his body back, and SOON!

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

The day began with surprising quiet. There was nothing exciting going on, Shou didn’t bother Manjoume much, and Kenzan was silent at breakfast. He kept stealing looks at Manjoume, but Manjoume didn’t care. He felt like being icy today, because he had to MAN UP and get over his situation and find someone to love. He had no time for the sad looks from Judai’s friends or the sly glances from the other people on campus. He had to find love and find it fast.

He finished his breakfast in record time and immediately tore out of the cafeteria, ready to begin the soich for a babe. Any babe that loved him enough to be counted as true love, anyway. There weren’t many people by the school yet, because he got there so early, so he sat down on the curb and decided that he’d wait, and catch a gal by the time school started. This plan was amazing. Good job Manjoume. Winged Kuriboh appeared and made an uncertain noise, and Manjoume swatted it away. He did not need this DOUBT.

Students began to appear on the walkway in front of the main Duel Academia walkway as the minutes ticked on. Nobody even gave him as much as a passing glance. Manjoume was p annoyed that nobody was paying him attention, but whatever. He was sure the PERFECT girl would walk by, and give him a look, even a piteous one, and it would be enough.

As he sat there, his grumpiness growing with the seconds, his thoughts unwillingly turned to Judai again. He wondered whether or not Judai had seen the article about them in that duel magazine. Manjoume couldn’t think of anyone that would actively go out of their way to tell Manjoume (himself) about that, other than Asuka or Fubuki. But they weren’t the type of people to tell Manjoume about anything important. Maybe Judai hadn’t even heard. It made Manjoume even angrier about the whole ordeal - that dude was ALWAYS living in ignorant bliss.

Speak of the devil, Manjoume caught sight of his glorious black spikes amongst the people of the crowd. Manjoume bristled at the sight of Judai, but found his eyes trailing the boy until he could see him fully in a break of the crowd.  Why were his eyes immediately going to Judai?

Judai was not alone. He was walking with a girl that Manjoume recognized, but didn’t really know. Him walking with her was not the problem here tho - what WAS the problem was their HANDS. Clasped together. They were holding hands. Holding hands? What the hell? Manjoume couldn’t believe his eyes. Palm to palm, fingers entwined. They were holding hands, alright. But why??

They breezed right past Manjoume, lost in whatever conversation they were having and completely looking over him. Manjoume watched their backs with a blank expression. What the hell? Who did Judai think he was, ignoring him like that? He stood up from where he was sitting, reaching outwards towards them. “Judai-”

“ANIKI!!!” Shou’s shrill cry sent a shiver up Manjoume’s back. The small boy glomped him (yeah you heard me) from behind and Manjoume nearly fell over. Luckily Shou weighed barely anything so he didn’t have much impact. “Oh, Manjoume’s the worst!”

“What are you talking about,” Manjoume hissed, attempting to pry Shou’s arms away from around him. That lil pipsqueak had a death grip. “Who is that girl? What’s going on?”

“She confessed to him yesterday, while you were asleep at the dorm,” Kenzan said, coming up to join with them. He looked super bummed out for his bro. “I guess he accepted her confession...harsh, dude…maybe he read the magazine article and got annoyed about the rumors?”

Manjoume felt cold at the news. He thought he should feel overjoyed at the fact that at least SOMEONE was getting lucky with the ladies, since that meant they were close to breaking this curse, but honestly, he wasn’t. Instead he felt pretty mad. He had no idea why though, do you? I don’t

“They’re dating?” Manjoume said through clenched teeth. Kenzan placed a hand on his shoulder and Shou hugged him harder. “Well, good.”

“Good?” Shou and Kenzan repeated.

Manjoume broke out of Shou’s imprisoning arms and walked briskly away from them. That’s right, he thought, his mind racing. It’s good that he’s dating her. He must be serious about fixing this. Good for him. Good.

If it was good, why was he so flustered?

He did not know why. Maybe doing some good ol’ LEARNING would help him out. Education was a good distraction, right? Plus, maybe there were some hot babes in the classroom. Smart hot babes. Smart hot babes who liked reading BOOKS. Ha, take that, Judai. You simpleton.

He came to a stop just outside the classroom. Inside, he could see Judai and his little girlfriend sitting together just above where Manjoume and Judai’s lil bros sat. They were looking at each other so…….lovingly. It made Manjoume sick. Didn’t they JUST start dating? Were they even dating?? Manjoume did not know if he should trust Kenzan, even though he had dino dna.

Manjoume charged in like a bull at a bullfight. He loudly stomped up the stairs to his seat and then slammed his booty down onto that chair. Judai and his girlfriend didn’t even notice him, despite his loud and, quite honestly, obnoxious entrance.

“...you’re so smart, Manjoume-senpai,” the girl cooed. Manjoume would normally feel jealous to hear a girl talk about him like that when he wasn’t even in his body to enjoy it, but just then he felt anger. Judai didn’t say anything so the girl continued, her chair squeaking as she shifted closer to Judai. “Can you help me study for that test next week? I could really use it, and I’m free tonight…”

“I’d love to,” Judai answered. Manjoume’s knees slammed into the desk. Now that’s what I call a knee-jerk reaction! He grumbled under his breath, rubbing at his now sore knees. Thanks a lot, Judai.

“You’re really nice now,” the girl said, laughing slightly. “I was always so intimidated by you before, but now you seem more...gentle.”

Manjoume resented that - was he not the most gentle creature in the universe? “I wonder why,” Judai said mysteriously, then chuckled a little. It pissed Manjoume off. He knew fully well why!!! Why would he LIE!!!!

Shou and Kenzan finally made it to the classroom. They gave Judai a sneaky dirty look as they passed by, but Judai didn’t seem to notice. He was too wrapped up in his NEW GF. Manjoume was sweating bullets, straining to listen to them over the shuffling of Kenzan and Shou getting seated at their desks.

“...I’ll see you at seven,” the girl said once Manjoume could hear them again. Judai hummed under his breath in response, and the noise made Manjoume feel sick. Was Judai trying to be………...seductive towards this girl? Fubuki had never taught him about this. He had no idea how to react. Shou and Kenzan appeared totally horrified. The girl quickly left, as this was not HER classroom, and she was going to be late to her actual class if she waited around any longer.

Shou turned around and shot Judai a glare. “Manjoume, are you really dating that first year? She’s practically a baby! More of a baby than I am!”

She was a first year??? This was scandalous as hell. Manjoume listened even though, now,  he didn’t really want to. “She’s cute, isn’t she?” Judai said in a joking tone. “Not as cute as Asuka, though.”

Manjoume felt his anger flare up at hearing Judai talk about his precious Asuka like that. Nobody called Asuka cute except HIM!!! And Fubuki, he guessed, but Fubuki did what he wanted anyway. Nothing Manjoume could do would change his mind.

“Don’t you have ANY sympathy for poor aniki?” Kenzan spat, looking like he was gonna go full dino any minute now. “He’s right here and you’re flirting with that girl?”

There was a moment of silence. Manjoume was blushing p bad, though he didn’t know why he would be. Likely because he had just been outed for eavesdropping on Judai and his gf. Not that it was hard not to.

“Who cares,” Judai finally said. It was brutally cold of Judai to say. Manjoume felt like someone had socked him in the stomach. “It’s not like we were dating or anything. We’re just friends, aren’t we, Judai? Why would he get mad about it?”

Manjoume let out a strangled gasp at being addressed. “Oh, no, I’m not,” he managed to say. “It’s good that you got a girlfriend,” he said, probably a little too loudly. He laced his shaking fingers together on the desktop, looking at them intently. “I’m glad.”

He really was. After all, that meant they were going to go back to normal soon.

“Then it’s no problem,” Judai said. He sounded a little disappointed, but Manjoume was too focused on trying to stop shaking to notice. Shou looked at him worriedly, asking if he was okay, but Manjoume assured him he was. After all, he was happy that Judai was dating someone.

* * *

 

……….but not happy enough to let them have a study date alone. Manjoume was hiding behind a potted plant in the Obelisk Blue dorm, waiting for them to arrive to her room. He had found out who she was from a random Obelisk Blue guy he had assaulted with questions, and had been waiting outside of it for at least an hour. They had shown no signs of showing up, though. In fact, he even had Winged Kuriboh go search for them, but the little dude couldn’t find them anywhere.

Maybe they left this plane of existence, Manjoume thought absently, because that was the most reasonable thing he could think of.

Someone walked by, and Manjoume thought fast and grabbed their ankle from behind the plant, startling the poor student while also tripping them. Manjoume did not feel bad though - this was important. The poor kid looked over at him, rubbing his nose which he had just slammed onto the floor. “Have you seen Manjoume?”

The kid stood up, looking a little dizzy from the fall. “Uh, yeah...he was at the library with his new girlfriend…”

The library! Damn, Manjoume had forgotten about that hotbed of STUDIOUS BEHAVIOR. He took off, not bothering to apologize to the kid he had just tripped. He had to be fast, or else he’d lose their trail. After all, they’d already been at it for an HOUR, at least. He was way late to this snooping session.

Why was Manjoume snooping? He wasn’t sure himself. Something about Judai and his girlfriend did not sit well with him. It made him feel sick to think about Judai being alone with that first year. Maybe it was because she was a first year, or maybe it was because he was jealous that Judai had found an inkling of love before Manjoume did, he wasn’t sure. Regardless of the reason, he was now creeping outside of the library, trying to catch a peek of that legendary Manjoume hairstyle.

They didn’t appear to be in the library, or at least not in the main part. There was rarely anyone there, since studying is for nerds, but it was even emptier than usual. Not even Asuka was there, and she was a regular patron of that place.

Manjoume walked in, hoping to ask someone where Judai and his gf had gone, when he did, in fact, spot that signature spiky hairdo. He immediately went into sneak mode, probably weirding out the librarian when he crouched down and began to crawl around on the floor. He ignored her stares though, because he had a very important mission. He had to make sure nothing suspect was going on in this library….

He hid around the shelves of books that Judai and his girlfriend were standing at. Standing a little uncomfortably close at. Manjoume could just hear what they were saying - they were being quiet, after all, this was a library.

“Are you sure you don’t want to study back at my room?” The girl asked, her voice flirtatious. Manjoume found himself bristling at the suggestion. What the hell? That would mean he’d have to sneak all the way back to her room. And that was definitely why it bothered him so much.

Judai didn’t answer, which annoyed Manjoume. Was he making hand gestures at her? Rude ones? Ones you’d never even think of making at a girl? Absolutely despicable… “No,” Judai finally responded, and Manjoume let out a silent sigh of relief.

A quiet settled over the couple. It unnerved Manjoume not to know what they were doing. He wanted to peek through the books, but was too afraid of being caught to do that. “You’re so handsome, Manjoume,” the girl said suddenly. It startled Manjoume, and he hit his head against the shelf above where he was crouching. Hopefully they did not hear the thud of his skull against the wood.

Apparently they didn’t. “Yeah,” Judai agreed. Manjoume scowled. What the hell kind of response was that? Manjoume wasn’t stuck-up enough to say something like that. At most, he’d demand the girl call him Thunder instead.

“Can I kiss you?”

Manjoume froze up. What had she said? She couldn’t have said what he thought she said. He found he was listening more intently than before, his heartbeat quickening as he pressed his head against the books to hear better.

“...Sure.”

Shocked, Manjoume found himself launching up from his crouching position and flying around the aisle of books. He couldn’t even think about what he was doing as he stepped forward, scaring Judai and the girl with his sudden appearance. He grabbed Judai’s arm and yanked him away from the girl, who watched in still shock as Manjoume dragged him out of the library.

He couldn’t hear anything over the rush of adrenaline in his ears. He was still dragging Judai by the arm, even though Judai was desperately pulling back. He didn’t know where he was taking Judai, either - he was just walking instinctively. When Judai finally stopped them, they had left the school entirely and were standing outside in the dark on the main path to the school.

Judai rubbed at the arm Manjoume had been pulling. “Ow, that really hurt…”

Manjoume didn’t say anything. It was starting to hit him what he had done - he stood there in embarrassed silence as everything worked itself out in his head.

“What were you doing in the library?” Judai asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at him.

“F- none of your business,” Manjoume said loudly, taking a step back from Judai. “Just getting some books!!”

Judai did not look convinced. He was scowling, too, which was a normal look for Manjoume’s face but not one for Judai. “You were listening to us, weren’t you?”

Manjoume’s hands shook as he clenched his fists. He was beet red, but he couldn’t figure out why - probably the embarrassment from being found SLEUTHIN. “I- I heard her say she wanted to kiss you, and I...I-”

Judai gave him a serious look and Manjoume stumbled.

“She doesn’t really love you, so it wasn’t going to work,” Manjoume said weakly.

“Didn’t you want to switch back sooner rather than later?” Judai said matter-of-factly. Manjoume could not deny this. “Do you want people to actually think we’re dating? I saw the magazine, Manjoume. I thought you’d be mad about it, so I wanted to quell the rumors, and hey, why not try to find true love while I do it?” Manjoume felt his blood run cold. He had known Judai would find out about it somehow. But he had been expecting a different reaction…...he wasn’t sure what though. “Why are you trying to stop me from getting us switched back?” Judai asked, exasperated. “Isn’t it what you wanted?”

“Just...why her?” Manjoume asked feebly, averting his gaze. Judai looked at him for a second, biting his lip as he stared at him. Manjoume had no idea what Judai was going to do - he looked like he would either slap him (probable) or not say anything and walk away (also probable). Manjoume didn’t blame him. He had just interrupted a smooch session that might have swapped them back……………….

Judai went into action, and Manjoume braced himself for a punch. Instead, he closed the distance between them and grabbed the back of Manjoume’s head, catching Manjoume off guard. Was he going to headbutt him?!

Instead of doing that, though, Judai kissed him hard, his fingers clenching at Manjoume’s hair. Manjoume was winded. He hadn’t been expecting this at all. He also hadn’t expected Judai to be so forceful - he hadn’t been when he had kissed him before.

Manjoume tried to pull away, but Judai’s hold on him was stronger. Judai pulled him closer, pressing their bodies flush against each other. Manjoume found himself gasping at the sudden contact, and Judai was suddenly kissing him deeper than he even knew people could kiss. Manjoume really had no idea what this kind of thing entailed. He felt himself kissing back, even though he had no idea what he was really doing. Judai’s kiss was harsh against Manjoume’s mouth, but he found himself getting into it, his body feeling warm pressed up against Judai’s like that. He rose his hands up and gripped at Judai’s sleeves. Judai’s hand slid away from pulling the hair at the back of his head and instead came to rest at Manjoume’s collarbone, and the grazing of Judai’s fingertips as he moved his hand against his skin made Manjoume shiver.

They split apart with a gasp. Judai was looking at Manjoume with dark eyes, and Manjoume was still grasping at Judai’s sleeves, because if he let go, he might fall over. It at least felt like he would. And he definitely wasn’t going to risk that.

Judai went in for the smooch again, but instead of kissing his mouth, he trailed his lips across Manjoume’s jaw. Manjoume’s grasp tightened on Judai’s sleeves. His thoughts were mushing together, and the only ones that stood out were the ones about Judai.

“Ah,” Manjoume finally managed to make a noise, getting over the initial shock of being kissed by this guy, his rival, again. Judai looked at him, not expectantly, but with a glimmer of something behind his eyes. “Judai…”

“Manjoume.” Judai said, a teasing tone to his voice despite the very serious nature of this whole situation. If Manjoume wasn’t holding onto Judai for fear of falling over due to his JELLY KNEES, he would sock him for bein’ a dick.

“I...uh,” Manjoume was at a loss for words. What could he say after that? “Um. Why?”

“Why what?” Judai asked. He was feigning innocence. Manjoume really wanted to sock him now.

“Why’d you do that,” Manjoume hissed, but he didn’t put his heart into it. He just wanted answers, man.

Judai looked pained. It made Manjoume feel bad, but he wasn’t going to back down. Nervously, Judai reached up and gently touched the side of Manjoume’s face.

“Because I think I love you.”

 

 


	16. Chapter 16

Because I think I love you.

Manjoume looked up at the bottom of Shou’s bunk. It had been a day or so since Judai’s unexpected confession, and Manjoume had not felt like leaving the dorm even once since.

Because I think I love you.

The words kept swirling around Manjoume’s head. Just remembering them were enough to make him become flustered and have to bury his head in his pillow. Then he’d remember Judai’s face, and then the k…….i……….s.s…………….

“aaaaAAAAAaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH” Manjoume yelled into his pillow. Shou startled from the bunk above him, interrupting his sleep. He didn’t say anything, because Manjoume had explicitly asked not to be disturbed, but you just knew that Shou was itchin to ask what was up.

Because I think I love you.

Why the hell had he said that? Manjoume couldn’t understand. After all, they were both dudes. Not that he had anything against it, but he hadn’t even ever considered Judai in that way. At least not till recently, he supposed. It still confused him - after all, Judai and Asuka were very different looking people, so going from one to the other just didn’t make sense to him.

But remembering the kiss made him feel weird, like he had enjoyed it, or something. He had never even imagined doing that kind of thing to Asuka, whereas when he thought of Judai…

He’d replayed the scene in his mind more than he’d like to admit, analysing it, visualising it from every angle, trying to work out just what the hell Judai- but more importantly, what the hell HE- had been thinking.

He hadn’t hated it, he could be sure of that much at least. He had been caught by surprise, sure, but if he’d hated it he would have punched Judai in the face and gotten the heck outta there. But he hadn’t… why… why…

It couldn’t be that he… had liked it…?!

It hadn’t been that bad, he guessed. He’d never have expected Judai to know how to pull something like THAT, but he wasn’t bad at it… it had certainly made Manjoume’s heart race. That was good, right? Though he wasn’t sure if it was beating so fast because it had been good or because Judai had sprung it on him so suddenly.

“You idiot,” Manjoume grumbled, burying his head in his pillow, and he wasn’t sure if he was talking about Judai or himself.

“What’d you say, aniki?” Shou mumbled from above him.

“Nothing,” Manjoume said. “Go back to sleep.”

Shou obliged, judging from the quiet snoring that came from above him. It was still early in the morning, and considering how it was a weekend, it seemed everyone was getting some well deserved rest. Manjoume, though, COULDN’T sleep! His mind was still buzzing with what Judai had said, even after a few days, and it wouldn’t quiet down long enough for him to get more than a few hours of sleep per night. This was hell.

He decided he might as well get up. Anything was better than lying in bed stewing in his own thoughts. And besides, most people not being awake yet meant he could get a nice breakfast, instead of having to serve himself whatever was left over. He got himself a piece of _**delicious**_ toast and settled down to eat.

He was halfway through his breakfast when the door to the dining room opened, and he saw Judai enter. He practically inhaled what was left of his _**delicious** _ toast so he could get away faster, but Judai had already seen him and was walking his way. Manjoume was struggling not to choke on the crust he’d tried to scarf down when Judai said, “Hey, where’s the fire?”

Manjoume glared up at him, but Judai’s smile didn’t wilt. Even so, Manjoume had known him long enough to know that it was forced - Judai was exceptionally good at acting like a happy idiot, but his cheerful demeanor seemed more of an affectation than it was genuine this morning.

“Can I sit with you?” He asked.

“I don’t care,” Manjoume said, trying to sound as apathetic, as normal, as he wanted to be, but the whole time he was like omg!!! what does he want???

“The toast looks _**delicious**_ this morning,” Judai said, taking a slice for himself. Manjoume just shrugged. Even for small talk, that was a stupid thing to say - the toast was _**delicious**_ every morning.

“I’m going to take a walk after breakfast,” Judai went on, apparently choosing to ignore Manjoume’s awkward silence. “Do you want to come with me?”

“No.”

“I think you should come with me,” Judai said, a little more forcefully, and Manjoume decided it was better not to argue. “It’ll give us a chance to… talk… or whatever.”

n that’s how Manjoume got dragged on a walk with Judai. It was colder than he’d expected, and he’d left his Osiris Red™ jacket back at the dorms. Walking along the cliffs by the beach didn’t help - it got pretty gusty up there. Judai stopped walking for a second, and Manjoume didn’t really get to process what he had stopped for before he was catching his black trenchcoat in his arms. He put it on without thinking - it was HIS coat, after all - but as soon as he’d done it, he felt kinda weird. Wtf were people going to think if they saw him wearing this!!!

“Nobody’s around,” Judai pointed out, and Manjoume squinted at him. wtf was he, psychic? Or did he just LOOK as embarrassed as he felt? Awkward. “Anyway, I just don’t want you catching a cold. It’d be bad if you got sick again.”

“I guess,” Manjoume grumbled, reluctantly pulling the coat a little tighter around himself as they started to walk again.

“I feel like I owe you an explanation,” Judai said, picking his way over some roots that lay on the path that led into the wooded area of the island. “I wasn’t really dating that girl. It was a ruse. Fubuki set us up.”

“Did she know that?” Manjoume asked. He was still pissed off about this, but despite bein a jerk, he’d be even more pissed off if an innocent girl had somehow gotten caught up in the Fubuki/Judai combo ruse cruise.

“Yeah, she knew,” Judai said, sounding a little guilty at the prombles this whole thing had caused. “Like I said, Fubuki said it would make you jealous, so I kinda went along with it, because it’s not like I had any better ideas… but hey, I mean, it kind of worked, right?”

Manjoume shot him a venomous glare. “In what universe do you count what happened as a plan working?”

“Well, I mean, I got to kiss you,” Judai pointed out, “And I got to say I liked you. That’s like a double whammy.”

Hearing Judai say that again made Manjoume blush, but he didn’t let it go.

“Why did you do it, though?” He said, and when Judai went to answer, he snapped, “And you can’t just say ‘because I love you’, or whatever, because that’s ridiculous. Where would that even come from? I’m an asshole to you.”

“You’re an asshole to everyone, so it’s not like I’m gonna take it personally,” Judai said, and Manjoume tutted. Yeah, like THAT made sense. “Anyway, that’s not the point - Manjoume, what do you think of me?”

Manjoume stopped so suddenly that Judai had taken a few steps before he’d processed it. He turned to look at him, blinking stupidly.

“I think you’re the most annoying person I’ve ever met,” Manjoume answered, briskly - he couldn’t maintain eye contact and his voice lowered a little bit as he said, “But you’re an okay duelist.” And then, quieter still - “And you’re not bad at kissing…. I mean I guess…….”

Judai grinned. “Really?”

Manjoume had been hoping he hadn’t heard that. He ducked his head so most of his face was hidden by the tall collar of his jacket and brushed passed Judai, who only turned and caught up to him.

“I’m glad- I mean, I didn’t really know what I was doing. So you liked it? That’s crazy!”

Manjoume was wondering if Judai would catch him if he broke into a run.

“So, if it wasn’t that bad- would you mind if I did it again?”

Manjoume froze, and Judai didn’t seem to know how to interpret his coming to a sudden halt.

“Is that a yes?” He asked, grinning coyly, and Manjoume wanted to punch him right in his stupid face, except it had come disconcertingly close to him and he was temporarily frozen from nerves.

“It’s a whatever,” Manjoume replied.

Judai kissed him again. Manjoume was unsure of what to do for a moment before he closed his eyes and let Judai take the lead. As clueless as the other claimed to be, he was surprisingly good at taking initiative with this kind of thing, and for once, Manjoume was content with not being in charge.

When Judai stopped and pulled back, Manjoume opened his eyes to see Judai looking at him expectantly. What did he want? For him to say something? Manjoume glanced away, unable to stand the PRESSURE he was being put under.

“You’re really cute, Manjoume.”

His head whipped back to face Judai in an instant, and Judai looked a little sheepish.

“What?”

“Don’t say stuff like that,” Manjoume said, “Especially when you’re saying it about your own body.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Judai said. His hand moved to touch Manjoume’s wrist, and hovered there, playing with the hem of his sleeve. It pissed Manjoume off. He should either hold his hand or not bother - not that he wanted Judai to hold his hand. People got pregnant that way. “It doesn’t matter if it’s my body you’re in or if it’s my face I’m looking at - it’s still you in there, so like… that’s what matters. And you are cute when you act all shy n stuff…”

Shy? Who was acting shy?! Not THE Manjoume Thunder! He grabbed Judai’s collar and pulled him in for the KISS OF A LIFETIME, but they both recoiled when Manjoume misjudged the kiss and clacked their teeth together painfully. Judai seemed stunned for a moment, before he stepped back, rubbing his two front teeth.

“Ouch, alright, I take it back - you aren’t cute,” he said, “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Shut up,” Manjoume said, but he was so embarrassed it was lacking his usual energy. They stood there awkwardly, before, still deciding to PROVE he wasn’t shy but lacking the courage to initiate another kiss after his previous Epic Fail, he reached out and grabbed Judai’s hand. Judai stared at him blankly.

“What?” Manjoume said, starting to get impatient, “You wanted to hold my hand earlier, right?”

“Well… yeah,” Judai said, “But I didn’t think you’d go for it. I’m getting really mixed signals from you, Manjoume.”

“Look,” Manjoume began, hoping he could think of a way to end the sentence between saying that word and continuing on with it- “I don’t know what to tell you, if your simpleton brain can’t work it out for itself. I’m not gonna go and say stupid stuff like love, but I don’t mind doing this stuff with you, so… I mean… I guess I’m saying I’m okay with trying it out more and seeing where it goes.”

He hadn’t really thought that statement through. Where it goes? What even came after kissing?! Especially with two guys?!?!? Judai hadn’t seemed to think that far ahead, though, and if he had, he wasn’t as flustered about it as Manjoume was.

“That sounds good,” he said, squeezing Manjoume’s hand slightly, and Manjoume was vaguely aware that it had started to sweat. Gross. “Anyway, we’d better head back. If Shou wakes up and finds you missing, I’m sure he’s gonna have words to say!!!”

Manjoume let himself be lead by the hand back to the dorms. The longer they held hands like that, the more embarrassed Manjoume got. What if someone saw them like that? But he somehow couldn’t find it in him to tell Judai to stop - he looked so happy to be holding Manjoume’s hand. And who wouldn’t be? It was an honor to hold THE Manjoume Thunder’s hand. Not just anyone got to do that after all!!!!!!!!

 

 


	17. Chapter 17

Judai had very little knowledge on what dating couples did. All he had to go off on was what Fubuki told him, which was honestly not too much. Judai didn’t know why Manjoume went to him so much - he was kinda flaky with that romance advice.

Luckily, the plan he had hatched with Fubuki had worked out in his favor - the fake girlfriend idea had worked like a charm. As Fubuki had predicted, Manjoume had gotten jealous easily, and after that…..shabam. Judai was plantin a smooch on Manjoume’s lips. Remembering it made Judai absolutely giddy.

The only downside to the plan working was that everyone seemed pretty angry with him. He guessed it didn’t really matter, since it was technically MANJOUME they were getting mad at for wooing some poor girl and then dumping her like a day later, but it was JUDAI doing it. So he still felt a little guilty. But not too guilty - after all, he got to mack on with Manjoume like, twice. That was twice more than he had even anticipated.

While Judai was getting chastised by his classmates, Manjoume was getting congratulated by them. Everyone had apparently been rooting for “Judai” to get with “Manjoume” all this time. Judai thought it was pretty funny, since if they were still in their own bodies, that would have never been the case. Nobody rooted for Manjoume, except maybe him.

Shou and Kenzan had not yet congratulated Manjoume at all, from what Judai had seen. Judai didn’t think they were very happy. They reminded him a little bit of cats who got mad at their owners for bringing new people into the house. Shou was fluffy like a cat, so the analogy made double sense. Judai wasn’t mad though - he loved his lil bros.

Judai had been waiting for Manjoume by the door to their classroom for a while, his heart beating nervously. How would he greet Manjoume? Would they hold hands, or kiss, or do something totally bro-like and platonic like give each other a high five? Judai had no idea. Asuka had told him that Manjoume may die if he tried to kiss him in public, and Judai didn’t want Manjoume to die, so he supposed that was a bad idea.

A hug. That would be a normal greeting for dating couples, right? Judai made his mind up - he’d give that big lug a big hug.

But when he saw Manjoume walking down the hallway with his lil brows in tow, his plan slipped away. Just seeing Manjoume made him feel like he was full of butterflies, fluttering all over the place. He liked to imagine Manjoume felt the same way when he saw him, but when Manjoume did a 180 degree turn on his heel and walk back the way he came when he met Judai’s eyes, something told him that he didn’t.

Judai was not offended, because that was just how Manjoume was, but he did go to follow him when he was stopped by a blockade of Kenzan and Shou. It wasn’t much of a blockade - he could vault over Shou if need be, Kenzan was another story though - but he stood there, looking at them with questioning eyes. “What do you guys want?”

“Are you two really dating?” Kenzan asked, eyes narrowed threateningly. “Really really dating?”

“Yes,” Judai said dreamily, smiling at them. They reeled back slightly, disgusted from seeing “Manjoume” so...so….in love.

“Uh,” Shou grunted, clearing his throat. He looked really uncomfortable to be talking with Manjoume. At least Kenzan had that angry demeanor, so his discomfort was hidden. Shou was not so lucky. “So that girl…”

“Judai is better,” Judai said. Well, he wasn’t totally lying. That girl hadn’t been very good at dueling, which was a travesty. How did she get into Obelisk Blue with skills like that? “She was more interested in Fubuki than me.”

“Oh,” was all Shou said. Well, he couldn’t blame her tbh. Fubuki was a hot dude. Dumb, but hot.

“Just,” Kenzan said, choking up a little bit as he struggled through the sentence. “Don’t...you know, hurt him...he’s been through a lot because of you these past weeks.”

Hurt Manjoume? Judai would never! He grinned at them, which skeeved them out a little bit. “Don’t worry,” he said, pushing through them easily. “I would never hurt him!”

They stood there, watching him as he walked away. It amused Judai to talk to them while in Manjoume’s body - they really were the best lil bros anyone could ask for. Okay, maybe they were tied with the Ojama Trio, but they were still good.

He finally caught up to Manjoume, who had hidden away in a bathroom. Judai slunk up behind him while he was washing his hands and hugged him from behind, givin him quite the fright.

“J-Judai!” Manjoume sputtered, splashing water EVERYWHERE. Such a clutz. He glared at Judai in the mirror. “Watch out!”

“Good morning,” Judai said, resting his chin on Manjoume’s shoulder. “Were you avoiding me?”

“No,” Manjoume said, but Judai could smell a lie from a mile away. Trust me on this hot Yu-Gi-Oh! GX fact. Judai gave him a look in the reflection in the mirror, and Manjoume stammered uselessly, looking everywhere but at their reflection. “I mean, I wasn’t...look, those two wanted to talk to you, plus...I didn’t know what you were going to do when we saw each other...so…”

Judai smiled goofily at Manjoume, who was not impressed by this GOOFING AROUND. “You’re so cute, Manjoume.”

“Stop saying that,” Manjoume muttered. “Can you get off so I can dry my hands? Or I’m going to slap you and you're going to get all wet. That’ll teach you.”

Judai honestly would not have minded much, but he let his…...get this………...BOYFRIEND go. He leaned up against the sink Manjoume escaped from, watching his every move as he dried off his hands. Manjoume was obviously aware of the staring, because he kept stealing glances over at him and turned redder and redder each time.

“God, do you have to stare?”

“It’s funny to see you in my body,” Judai said, shrugging Manjoume’s irritation off, which just irritated Manjoume more. “It’s funny to hug myself.”

Judai smiled warmly as Manjoume dipped his head down, scowling. He was just 2cute. Judai couldn’t even take it.

His eyes dipped down over Manjoume’s body for a split second, which was enough to make him want to kiss him. Even though it was his body, it moved the same way Manjoume did, with all the same quirks. And they were everything Judai liked most about his rival.

He closed the gap between them. Manjoume looked at him steadily as Judai approached him, but closed his eyes before Judai even kissed him, knowing what was coming. It filled Judai’s heart with joy to see him accepting Judai’s affections.

A tiny thought at the back of his head ate at him. What if he was just tolerating this to see if it was true love? He didn’t want to think about it. The rejection alone would be devastating, but the knowledge that Manjoume had been PLAYIN him would be even worse…

Oh well. He had no time to think of negative things like that. He kissed Manjoume sweetly, and he could feel Manjoume shaking nervously beneath him. It was ADORABLE!

He pulled away, and Manjoume looked at him with bright eyes. “Time for class,” Judai said innocently, smiling at him as he exited the bathroom. He heard Manjoume yell after him, but teasing Manjoume was even better than kissing Manjoume, so he kept walking, even when he heard Manjoume chasing after him.


	18. Chapter 18

Manjoume was chilling in his dorm room with Shou and Kenzan, watching over their lil casual duel. He wasn’t really paying attention to it, though. His mind was occupied with thoughts about other things. By other things I mean Judai.

He was concerned. All they had done was kiss occasionally, and none had been like that one since when he had first confessed. Even though thinking about that type of kissing was gross……….tongues? ew…………..he kept recalling it and how he had felt afterwards. He’d never be able to put it into words, but he had liked it a lot. He’d never felt like that before.

Though he wasn’t a love doctor like Fubuki was, he knew that there was chemistry between him and Judai. He liked when Judai grabbed his hand, or hugged him, or kissed him...but didn’t couples do more? Like go on dates and do other stuff? Whatever ‘other stuff’ was. I mean he knew what it was but wtf could two dudes do? Not much.

There was also very few places to go on the island to get privacy. The beach, maybe, if you were lucky or went on a rainy day. And Manjoume was not about that rainy beach life.

What I’m basically saying here is that Manjoume was itchin for a proper DATE with Judai. They ate meals together sometimes, but they didn’t count, even though Judai shared his delicious toast with him sometimes. Which was pretty darn romantic, even though it probably didn’t LOOK that way, since Judai stole Manjoume’s food all the time in his own body.

Well, whatever. It was the thought that counted.

The point is: at the moment, Manjoume had no idea HTF (how the fuck) to get some time alone with his sweet boo. That was… until an opportunity presented itself to them at the end of one of Chronos’s lectures.

“At the end of this week, we will have a field trip, da no ne,” Chronos said. “We will be going to Domino City for the day. If you are interested, the sign up sheet is at the front.”

As expected, as soon as class was over, everyone ran down to the front to sign up. Domino City was kind of a lame place to go, really, but any trip off the island was good in most student’s opinions. And besides, Manjoume thought as he shoved through the crowd to get his name on the sign up sheet, maybe he and Judai could even go on a… DATE! WTF!

Well, probably not a proper date. But they usually had a little free time on field trips, and maybe then they’d get to hang out like a normal couple… as in, not having to sneak around to get some alone time or to not have Shou and Kenzan breathing down their necks all the time. Not that Manjoume wanted to do anything SKETCHY or anything! He just got embarrassed when Judai tried to pull any romantic crap around other people, and he did not appreciate the whole world seeing Manjoume Thunder flustered.

Plus, maybe Judai knew all the hot spots to be in Domino City. The last time they had went, Manjoume had been under Saiou’s control, so he didn’t really have a good time and didn’t really look around at all. Maybe Judai knew where to get a good ‘za.

Manjoume finally made his way up to the front of the crowd by means of elbowing loser nerds in the face to advance. It worked in his favor, so it’s good advice. He grabbed a pen out of seemingly thin air, magical, and went to sign his name.

Beside the sign-up sheet, there was a room sign up sheet as well for the hotel they’d be staying at while they were visiting. It was a KaibaCorp owned hotel, so it had a cool duel arena, but Manjoume wasn't thinking about how cool it would be to duel there. He was thinking nervously about who he would room with!

It was only two people to a room (scandalous) but no co-ed rooms were allowed (not so scandalous). Manjoume, even though he was datin Judai, still got a little mad that he couldn’t room with Asuka. It was second nature for him now to get mad when he wasn’t paired with her for things. Plus, she had also already been put in a room with one of her friends, so even if they were allowed to go co-ed, he’d already be out of luck.

He nervously stood there, gripping the pen in his hand. He didn’t know who to put down as who he wanted for a roommate. One of Judai’s lil bros was a safe option, though an annoying one. Another was Misawa, who was standing idly by to sign up for the trip, but Misawa was a goddamn nerd and Manjoume didn’t want to catch the nerd disease. There was also Fubuki, but thinking about rooming with Fubuki made Manjoume get a headache. That left…

“Judai,” Judai called, waving to Manjoume from the edge of the crowd. Manjoume looked over to him, feeling everyones eyes on them. “I already signed us up as roommates!”

The entire classroom gasped. So did Manjoume. How embarrassing!!!!!! There’d be separate beds, right?! Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad if they didn’t share a bed. Why was Manjoume freaking out about this bedding situation? Idk reader, why do you think?

Shou and Kenzan were having a fit at the back of the crowd of students. Kenzan barrelled through them, sending them flying to the side like they were bowling pins and he was the ball. Shou followed after him, using him as a human shield.

“We do NOT APPROVE OF THIS!!” Shou cried, looking horrified at even the THOUGHT of Manjoume and Judai sharing a room. What was he even thinking they would do? Manjoume did not like what Judai’s little blue haired friend was implying.

“Swap with me, Manjoume,” Kenzan yelled over to Judai, who was smiling impishly. “I’ll be aniki’s roommate.”

“No, I will!” Shou bellowed.

“I don’t want to sleep with Manjoume,” Kenzan spat. “Plus, I’ll protect Aniki from him!!”

“Judai likes me better!”

“Take that back!”

Manjoume was not enjoyin listening to these nerds diss him over and over again. Why didn’t they want to room with him? He was perfectly fine company and definitely not a weirdo.

“Signores,” Chronos said, interrupting their lil fight by clapping his hands and getting their attention. “You can always get rooms that are connected to each other through doors - it’ll be like you have the same room!”

“PERFECT,” Kenzan and Shou roared at the same time, shoving Manjoume to the side and hastily scribbling down their names for the room right beside Judai and Manjoume’s. Judai laughed heartily from the side of the group, which pissed Manjoume off.

 

THE DAY OF THE FIELD TRIP (MORE LIKE FEEL TRIP) 

 

It was finally the day of the field trip. Manjoume had been mentally preparing himself for this weekend for the past day, steeling himself for going on a real, proper date with Judai while there. The boat ride to Domino City was, as expected, hellish. He had been forced to watch over Misawa as he got seasick, because Judai had done that last time, so it made sense for “Judai” to do it again. Manjoume was not pleased at all.

It was quite the way to start the trip, but as soon as they hit shore, Manjoume had already forgotten about it, because all he could think about now was getting him and Judai alone.

Judai seemed ecstatic to be back in Domino City. He was positively brimming over with excitement. “We have to go to Yugi’s grandpa’s game shop,” he said to Manjoume. He looked like a kid on christmas. It kind of annoyed Manjoume, but it was kind of endearing. Don’t tell Judai that he said that. “We went there last time, but we didn’t get to buy anything. We have to.”

“Okay,” Manjoume said. Apparently like everybody else also agreed, because they had a little entourage of people who also wanted to go along later. It was irritating, but Manjoume supposed it couldn’t be helped - Yugi Mutou was a big deal after all.

But first, before they could go exploring the city, they had to drop off their things at the hotel. They had packed for a weekend, so they each had a sizable bag with them. Manjoume would normally have had a bigger than normal bag with him, since he was an overpacker, but since he had to pack JUDAI’S things, he hadn’t known what to bring and what to leave. It had been very stressful.

Chronos led them through the city like a herd of lil babby schoolchildren to the fancy, deluxe, KaibaCorp Hotel. It was just as gaudy as you’d expect a Kaiba-built hotel to be. There was even a huge ass statue of the Blue Eyes White Dragon in front of the front doors. Judai thought it was kinda cool, but Manjoume was unimpressed. This was how that KaibaCorp CEO spent his money? Smh (shaking Manjoume’s head).

They were led inside, where the lobby was just as you’d expect it - fancy. Stiflingly fancy. Manjoume, of course, was used to this kind of atmosphere as he was a very wealthy man (“man” is debatable), but Judai looked pretty intimidated. Well, only a little bit - he actually looked more like he wanted to go flop down on one of the nice white leather couches (oo) and chillax.

“The student’s rooms are up on the fifth floor,” Chronos said as he handed out room keys to everyone. Manjoume and Judai’s room was 503. The keys were fancy, and even had a lil KaibaCorp logo on them. Manjoume wanted to puke. Kaiba was one self-absorbed dude. “Go put your stuff there, and then you have the rest of the day to go look around. No street duels, though, mama mia……..and don’t die!! Gorgonzola cheese, I am not getting fired because of you kids.”

Manjoume heeded Chronos’ advice - while trying to get himself and Judai alone, he would definitely try not to get them killed. He piled into the elevator with every other student from Duel Academia (the elevator was GIGANTIC). He was pressed up against Judai’s chest (the elevator was apparently just not big enough, since everyone was sandwiched in like sardines), and he tried hard not to look like it was gettin to him - he could be chill about something as innocuous as this - but he was findin it hard to keep his cool. Judai was smiling amusedly at him, but Manjoume kept his eyes looking everywhere but at Judai for the entire ride.

They finally got out of the elevator and Manjoume shoved through everyone to be the first one off. He had to calm down before he, Judai, and about half the student body went to the Mutou’s game shop. He made it to their room and, with a dramatic shove, pushed his way into he and Judai’s room.

It was a pretty nice hotel room. Manjoume was not really the expert on what constituted a nice hotel room from a bad one, but he supposed it looked good. The beds were huge, even though they were supposed to be single beds. There was a mini fridge, and a lil bar (very scandalous), and a huge picturesque window that overlooked Domino City. Manjoume claimed the bed closer to the window, heaving his bag onto the crisp white blankets.

Judai came wandering in, a huge doofy smile on his face. “Wow!” He exclaimed, throwing his bag to the floor and leaping onto his bed, ruining the nicely made sheets and sending his pillows slumpin to the floor. “This bed is so bouncy!”

“Stop that,” Manjoume scolded, but Judai showed no signs of stopping. It was truly infuriating to listen to the bed springs squeaking as Judai leapt around like a frickin child.

Judai finally did stop, and was lying silently on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. A heavy quiet hung over them, and Manjoume felt obligated to lift it himself, because it was just too awkward. “Judai,” he said, and Judai looked over to him expectantly. “Uh, after we go to the game shop, do you-”

The door that both had failed to notice suddenly slammed open, startling them both. Shou and Kenzan stood there, looking both embarrassed but NOT EMBARRASSED AT ALL for bursting into their room like that.

“Let’s go to the game shop,” Kenzan said, giving Judai a suspicious stare. “Everyone’s already waiting.

Well, that was fast. Manjoume glumly followed the bouncy Judai out of the room, bummed that he hadn’t gotten to ask Judai if they could go out, alone, that night…

Kenzan and Shou appeared at either side of him, looking at him vewy sewiously. “Judai,” Shou said. It was creepy when Shou said Judai’s name like that. “I can’t believe you’re actually rooming with Manjoume.”

“We’re dating,” Manjoume said. It was true, after all. Didn’t couples typically tend to stay together?

“That’s exactly why we’re worried,” Kenzan stressed, looking concerned.

Wtf were these fools talking about? Manjoume walked ahead of them, catching up with Judai, who was leading the crowd of students out of the hotel. He had no time to think about Judai’s silly little friends - he had to make sure that today did not go badly!!

 

 


	19. Chapter 19

The Mutou gameshop was, luckily, not too far of a walk away. Manjoume still felt a little winded when the strangely small shop came into view, but he refused to let anyone know this. He blamed Judai for not keeping his body in shape. Yeah, that was it.

Kenzan and Shou had apparently gotten over their weird obsession w worrying over their aniki and were now running ahead with Judai, excited about going into the LEGENDARY CARD SHOP. Luckily for them, the shop was open, because if it wasn’t, they probably would have torn down the door with the force they went at it with.

“Oh! Hello,” Grandpa Mutou (Suguroku, wtf do fic people call him? Im gonna call him gramps) said from behind the counter towards the back of the shop. The Duel Academia students trickled in, awed by the famous home of Yugi Mutou, duelist extraordinaire. “Are you kids students at Kaiba’s duel school?”

But no one was paying attention to the gramps. They were all too busy looking around, buzzing with excitement over the idea of buying out this entire shop of it’s cards. These duel students were thirsty af for these cards. Grandpa Mutou wasn’t gonna complain though - he was gonna make mad bank.

Manjoume looked too. He was a duelist after all, and he did love cards. Maybe he’d find a new ojama card to pump up his deck with. Anything to make those nerds tougher. As he was admiring all the wares the Mutou Gameshop had to offer, the bell on the door jingled as it was flung open.

All eyes turned to the new person in the store. There was a moment of hesitation amongst all of the Duel Academia students as the person strode through the store, ignoring them all with a surprising amount of indifference. That was a true skill to have - the ability to ignore everyone around you despite being in a crowd. What a guy.

“Suguroku,” the man said brusquely, stern eyes settled on the tiny elderly man who had been showing off some rare cards to a couple of girls. “Where is Yugi?”

“He’s just upstairs,” he said cheerfully, putting the cards on the counter. “You know where to go, right? Will you be staying long?”

“I want to duel him,” the man said without a moment’s hesitation. This guy meant business.

“Ah, just like always,” Grandpa Mutou said with a chuckle. “I hope you’ll stay long enough for me to make you some tea sometime. It’s always nice to have you come visit...Kaiba.”

Kaiba? As in………….Seto Kaiba? THE KAIBA????????????? OF KAIBA CORP???????????????????????????? AKA THE MAN BEHIND THE DUEL SCHOOL?????????????????????????????????????????????

 

^ this dude ^

The students went ballistic. Manjoume was also excited to see the big man himself, and was interested in discussing their immense wealths, but Kaiba was the perfect distraction. THE distraction, even.

As Kaiba struggled to get out of the sea of teenagers surrounding him, a look of horror on his face, Manjoume raced over and grabbed Judai’s arm. Judai was broken away from admiring Kaiba as Manjoume pulled him to a door, who knew where it led, not Manjoume, but they had to get somewhere where nobody else was. And now was perfect, while everyone was distracted, even Mama Shou and Papa Kenzan.

Judai was surprisingly easy to lead away, even though Kaiba was probably someone Judai looked up to a lot. After all, there was something about Kaiba choosing Judai’s cute ass card designs he made as a kid to make as real cards. And then sending them to space? So they could harness the power of space? Listen, GX is confusing.

The door Manjoume led them through ended up bringing them to a narrow hallway lined with family photos. At the end of it, there was another hallway and a set of stairs leading upstairs to the second floor of the half shop half house. Manjoume felt ashamed - he had walked right into the Mutou family house!! How embarrassing!! He stopped, not sure what to do next. Were they really going to stand there and talk while INVADING someones house???

Judai pulled on Manjoume’s wrist slightly, and Manjoume turned towards him only to be pressed up against one of the walls of the narrow hallway, his head landing softly just below a framed picture of a woman and a young child. “Judai-?”

His question was swallowed up by Judai leaning in and kissing Manjoume deeply. Manjoume was caught so off guard that he flinched instinctively, knocking his head against the wall sharply. Judai didn’t seem to think that was a good enough reason to stop kissing him, though, cuz he just kept on truckin, slinking his arms downwards to rest his hands on Manjoume’s hips.

Manjoume, despite being totally skeeved out by knowing a mother and child were immortalized in a photo above his head, found himself totally engrossed in the kiss. There was a feeling of danger that went along with kissing Judai in a place like this - a place they weren’t technically supposed to be. It was…….exciting? Manjoume did not know what was even goin on. He reached up and wrapped his arms around Judai’s neck, feeling a strong surge of warmth flood over him.

He let out the most embarrassing noise of his life - a moan, if you can believe it - just as the sound of the wooden staircase creaking.

“Oh,” a voice from the stairs said. “Um.” Judai and Manjoume untangled instantly, looking at the person who had just interrupted their smooch fest. It was none other than the KING OF GAMES HIMSELF, Yugi Mutou!!!! Manjoume was absolutely horrified. Yugi was giving them a weird stare. His eyes flickered up to the picture of...oh god, of him and his mom! Manjoume had just been mackin underneath a picture of the KING OF GAMES AND HIS MOM! This was awful!

“Sorry,” Judai said breathlessly. He was very obviously not sorry - he looked fuckin excited to see Yugi!

“You found a new aibou?” Yugi said, smiling a little tersely over at Manjoume. Manjoume looked over at Judai. What the fresh hell was Yugi talking about? Judai mouthed “kuriboh” to him, and Manjoume made a face that said “oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”. He would question Judai about his relationship with Yugi later. For now, he nodded dumbly at the KoG (that stands for king of games) and Yugi chuckled, adjusting his hair in a mirror that was conveniently  by the bottom of the stairs. “Well, good for you. Anyway, I don’t think you came for me…” Manjoume blushed a hundred shades of red. “...but if you did, I’m sorry, I’ve got somewhere to be…”

Yugi squeezed past them, making a big show of making sure not to as much as graze either of them. Manjoume was appalled.

The short man went into the shop, leaving Manjoume and Judai alone in the hallway. A second later, Yugi’s head popped back in. “And try not to make out in random people’s houses from now on.”

MANJOUME WAS TRULY APPALLED. He looked over at Judai with wide eyes, and Judai looked sheepish.

“Why the hell did you do that?” Manjoume asked in an angry whisper, which escalated loudly towards the end.

Judai awkwardly rubbed at the back of his head. “I thought you pulled me back here alone because you wanted to...you know...kiss.”

“Is that all you think about!!!” Manjoume asked shrilly. “Kissing!!!”

“No. I just think about you in general,” Judai said, nodding. Manjoume’s mouth hung open - wtf...that was about the romantic thing he’d ever heard….

“And duelling. And what’s for dinner!” Manjoume took it back - Judai was not romantic at all.

“I brought you back here because I wanted to talk to you without all those bozos interfering!” Manjoume said, folding his arms and looking down, feeling embarrassed. “I want us to hang out together tonight. Alone.”

“You want to go on a date?”

How the hell did Judai say that so easily?! Manjoume nodded, his face burning, and looked nervously up at Judai. The other boy was looking pensive, obviously thinking about this very hard. It surprised Manjoume that Judai even had the capacity to think so hard.

“Let’s go to dinner then,” Judai said, smiling warmly at Manjoume. He reached out and slid his hands around one of Manjoume’s and squeezed it. Manjoume’s heart skipped a beat. “Last time, we found this really nice place. We didn’t go in, obviously, because we were too hungry to wait for a fancy meal, but I’ll take you.”

Manjoume was, honestly, really amazed. That had been easier than he expected. “How will we get away from everyone?” By everyone, he clearly meant Shou and Kenzan.

Judai laughed at Manjoume’s worry about the lil bros. “Don’t worry, we can ditch them easily. I wanted to spend some time with you, too...that’s why I made sure we were sharing a room.”

Manjoume looked down at the hand Judai was holding. He felt...what? Loved? Something like that. whatever it was, it made Manjoume’s chest feel fluttery. The only reason he could think of was that he was getting sick again, and he prayed it would go away by the time they went to dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 OMAKE

Yugi walked out into the shop, shocked at what he found.

Kaiba was looking desperately down at the crowd of teenagers surrounding him, holding up pieces of paper and cards, begging for his autograph. He had his arms up above his head, his suitcase swinging around dangerously as he looked for means of escape. He looked up as soon as he noticed Yugi, his expression turning from stony anger to ANGRY anger.

“Yugi,” Kaiba said through clenched teeth. “Help me! I’m being mobbed by these TEENAGERS.”

Yugi leaned up against the counter. He was lucky in that no one had noticed him yet, despite his silly hair, and were too absorbed in the MAN BEHIND DUEL SCHOOL. “Nah,” Yugi said. He was enjoyin the sight of Kaiba being totally bamboozled by children.

“YUGI,” Kaiba yelled, and Yugi laughed as the CEO shoved some kids out of his way to go over to Yugi. The duel school students were shocked, but unaffected by Kaiba’s aggression. It was just like the rumors they heard! That Kaiba was one rad bad dude! Kaiba glared down at Yugi, who smiled innocently up at him. “We’re going to duel today, aren’t we? I scheduled us in.”

“Yeah,” Yugi said, holding up his deck of cards. “I changed my deck a little since our last duel. You won’t know what hit you.”

“Say that when you win,” Kaiba said. There was a pause as Kaiba smirked smugly. “Which you won’t.”

Yugi didn’t feel like teasing Kaiba TOO much, so he just smiled teasingly instead, which was enough to get on Kaiba’s nerves. Together, they managed to weave their way through the students, signing an autograph here and there, and escaped into Kaiba’s limo before they were bombarded with any more silly cards to sign.

“Your students sure are something,” Yugi said as they settled into the limo, flipping through his cards absently. “Very energetic.”

“We only accept the best,” Kaiba said proudly.

“Except for the two who were...ah, nevermind, actually.”

“What?”

Yugi looked up at Kaiba, who looked mildly concerned. Yugi chuckled, shaking his head. “It’s nothing.” He wasn’t going to worry the CEO about the romantic endeavors of his students, at least not on the day they were gonna duel for the first time in a long time. “Quit worrying about Duel Academia and start worrying about losing.”

“I never worry about losing.”

“Because it happens so much?”

“Shut up.”


	20. Chapter 20

They FINALLY left the game shop after nearly wiping out Suguroku clean of his entire stock. The large group of students dispersed, interested in doing their own thing. Judai, Manjoume, Shou and Kenzan went for the arcade. It annoyed Manjoume that Kenzan and Shou had adamantly invited themselves to their arcade time, but Judai didn’t seem too concerned. In fact, he had suggested that they join them for a few hours of game time. Had he forgotten that Manjoume wanted to be alone with him? It made Manjoume a lil upset, though he’d never admit that.

They played a couple of games together, but Manjoume’s heart was not in it. Kenzan and Shou seemed obsessed with beating Judai at every game possible, as if they had to assert their dominance over him in front of their aniki. Manjoume watched boredly as Shou and Kenzan went 2 v 1 against Judai in an air hockey match.

“Ha! I won!” Judai said excitedly as the puck rattled down into the goal. Manjoume was decently impressed that Judai had been able to beat them when it was so unfairly weighted against him. Shou and Kenzan looked defeated.

“Rematch,” Kenzan growled, fishing through his pockets for another quarter.

“Nah, we’ve already played four games,” Judai said, laughing weakly. Manjoume snickered. So even Judai got SICK of doing stupid SHIT sometimes. That was good to know, Manjoume supposed.

The two convinced Judai to go against them in a racing game, and the boy reluctantly agreed. Manjoume watched them as they did it, and got more and more involved with it. He found himself getting pretty into it too, cheering them on as they did laps in their silly little arcade game. It was actually not too silly - they had helmets on and were totally immersed. A virtual reality car game? Amazing! Technology has advanced amazingly.

While Manjoume was cheering Kenzan on, Judai suddenly removed his helmet and slipped out of the chair of the game. He walked quickly over, grabbing Manjoume’s hand, and led him out of the arcade so fast that it made Manjoume’s head spin. It was only when they were out of the arcade did Manjoume even realize what had just happened.

“Judai-”

“I told you we’d get rid of them,” Judai said in a teasing tone.

Manjoume looked dumbly at him for a second, not comprehending what he meant, but it hit him with a smack. “Oh! Clever. For a slacker.”

Judai looked extremely proud of his getting rid of the lil bros. He laced his fingers with Manjoume’s, much to Manjoume’s shock - dude, this was dangerous - and began to pull him down the sidewalk. It was starting to become evening - they had been in the arcade for what felt like HOURS, so it didn’t surprise Manjoume that it was already becoming dusk. He closed the distance between them so their hand holding wasn’t so obvious to people they passed on the sidewalk. “Is it okay? To hold hands in public?”

“Of course it is,” Judai said, surprised that Manjoume had even asked. “Why wouldn’t I hold hands with the guy I’m dating?”

Judai’s logic made it hard to argue with him. He still felt embarrassed as they walked down the still busy streets, their hands linked together. He kept his eyes drawn downwards because, maybe if he didn’t look at anyone, nobody would look at him either.

Nobody seemed to care, though - in Duel Academia, people would have stopped to stare and gossip. Here in Domino City, people were rushing about minding their OWN business - it was weird that there were probably ten times as many people here than there were in the busiest parts of duel school, but they had more privacy here.

“Come on,” Judai said, tugging him in the right direction, “Let’s go get some ‘za.”

The place Judai took him to was pretty nice, MANJOUME GUESSED. He had been half worried that the other was gonna take him to Mickey D’s or something, which would be totally not at all romantic, but the restaurant looked nice. The waiter looked at them kinda weird when they asked for a table for two, and for a moment Manjoume felt a little defensive, then realised that it wasn’t because they were two guys but because they were two punk ass teens in this SWANKY ASS RESTAURANT. Which made him even more defensive, cuz didn’t this guy know who he was? Or who Judai was? Whatever???

“Don’t worry about it,” Judai said, swaggerin forward and flashing his wallet, “I’m the son of the Manjoume group.”

Manjoume glared at him. Was he being mocked? The waiter took him super seriously though, and quickly led them into a booth.

“Don’t worry,” Judai said, taking Manjoume’s wallet out of his pocket and waving it, “Order whatever you want, Judai. I’m paying.”

“How generous of you,” Manjoume said, glaring at him. The menu was HUGE! Also expensive. Even if Judai hadn’t “offered” so kindly, he would have had to pay anyway. This bum couldn’t afford food like this!

“Let’s share a pizza,” Judai said, and while Manjoume was annoyed at having his choice taken away from them.

Yes, dear reader, they were in Domino’s ‘Za…. that’s what Domino City was named after…… duh………………………………. all of the za there was really exensive cuz it was the hometown of it. Trust me on nthis.

“Let’s get shrimp on it.”

“I don’t think they’ll put shrimp on it,” Manjoume said, rubbing his temples.

“Then riceballs!”

“Do you even know what a pizza is?”

They ended up gettin a really tasty ‘za that they split between them, like 70-30 bc Judai is greedy af. Manjoume didn’t care too much though, because while he normally would, his stomach was churnin too much to even think of eating a lot. The restaurant felt intimate, and most of the other patrons were couples too… wtf… this was his first date, and it was going TOO well, considering it was with Judai.

Judai ordered a desert that was meant to be shared between them, then ate the whole thing by himself. Manjoume ordered a coffee to seem grown up and sophisticated, but Judai’s tastebuds did not agree with it, and it took him half an hour to choke it down, because the only thing lamer than ordering a coffee and not liking it was ordering a coffee and not DRINKING IT ANYWAY. he had to prove himself. assert his authority as the superior man.

When they were done, they high tailed it out of the pizzaria, because curfew was at ten and it was already NINE FORTY FIVE! The only way they’d get back to the hotel in time was if they powerwalked back, and of course Judai just had to stroll at a LEISURELY PACE instead.

“Come on,” Manjoume said impatiently, walking about five steps ahead of him in his hurry. “If we don’t get back before ten, they’re not going to give us the key to our room, and then Chronos will get involved and be pissed that we broke curfew. Are you trying to get us EXPELLED?”

“They wouldn’t expel us for that,” Judai said, and then he clambered onto the wall that ran along the seafront and walked along it, his arms spread out to balance himself. Not that it looked to be helping - watching him made Manjoume nervous. If he fell into the sea on the other side, his wallet and phone in his pockets would be ruined, and he was not going to go get a lifeguard just bc his…. bf…. wtf…. was dumb enough to fall in the ocean.

“Besides,” Judai continued, and Manjoume had to look away at this point, because every time Judai looked like he was about to lose his footing he panicked a lil. “We don’t need to get OUR key. If we’re late, Shou and Kenzan can just let us in through their room. No big deal.”

Having to get into their room through Shou and Kenzan’s was a HUGE deal - who knew what kinda salacious conclusions they’d jump to! - but Judai didn’t seem to think so.

He checked his watch. It was five minutes to ten!!! There was no way they’d get back in time for curfew. Judai seemed to realise this too, and Manjoume nearly bumped into him when he jumped down off the wall in front of him.

“We’re going to be late anyway, so does it matter HOW late we are?” He said, nudging Manjoume.

Manjoume returned his nudgin w/ a punch to the gut. His heart wasn’t in it, considering how quickly Judai returned.

“Of course it matters. There’s a big difference between getting back five minutes late and getting back an hour late.”

Judai smooched him, possibly just to shut him up? But Manjoume wasn’t having any of it. He broke off that kiss (sry, no yaois 2day) and grabbed Judai’s hand, tugging him in the direction of the hotel.

“Come ON.”

They ended up getting back to the hotel twenty minutes after curfew, and as expected, there was nobody at the front desk. That meant that they’d have to ring the bell if they wanted to get their key, and they hotel would DEFINITELY report them if they did that! And Manjoume was not taking the blame because Judai was a slowpoke. There was only one option: they had to go into their room through Shou and Kenzan’s.

The elevator ride up to their room felt long, and when they got into the fifth floor hallway where the duel school students had been put up, they found it eerily quiet. Of course it would be. Everyone else was already tucked up in bed (or, well, at least in their rooms) by now, like GOOD students.

They crept down the hallway super stealthily, and fortunately they were Solid Snake enough not to alert any of the teachers on the trip of their getting back late. But there wasn’t any way they could avoid Kenzan and Shou, and really, all their effort that had been put into being sneaky had been wasted when Kenzan opened the door and shouted, “WHERE have you been?”

Manjoume and Judai slunk into the room guiltily, not looking at each other or at Kenzan and Shou. Kenzan shut the door firmly behind him and then began to pace, shooting angry glares at them every now and again.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“It’s ten thirty,” Judai said. He didn’t seem to be pickin up on the heavy mood that hung over the whole room, Manjoume included - although Manjoume was mostly just EMBARRASSED.

“Exactly. It’s ten THIRTY. Thirty minutes past curfew!” Kenzan barked, “Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been?”

Okay, even Manjoume was beginning to get a little tired of this, even with how awkward it was to get back to their room late with Judai. Kenzan wasn’t his mom, and he didn’t really want him to talk to him like he was.

“We just went out to get something to eat, and then we were a little late getting back,” He said. And then - though it was completely indignified, he knew Kenzan couldn’t stay mad at him - he added, “Just drop it? Please?”

Kenzan’s resolve seemed to wither. Fortunately for them and unfortunately for Manjoume and Judai, Shou stepped in to take his place.

“Oh, no. We can’t let you off the hook for this one! Not even if you are our aniki!” He shot a glance at Judai. “Manjoume? Could we talk to Judai? Alone?”

Manjoume wanted Judai to say something like ‘anything you want to say to Judai, you can say in front of me’, but instead he just seemed completely amused by the whole situation.

“Sure,” he said, “See you in a sec, Judai!”

He left into their room and shut the connecting door between them, and Shou immediately broke down, throwing his arms around Manjoume.

“Um,” Manjoume said as the smaller boy sniffled into his chest, and he would have managed another “um” when Kenzan joined him, except Kenzan’s embrace was more like a bear hug and it severely winded Manjoume.

“Oh, aniki! We weren’t really mad!” Shou sniffed as they seperated, taking off his glasses to clean them. “We were just so SCARED! You and Manjoume disappeared, and we thought the worst had happened, like you’d been jumped or something-”

“The city isn’t that dangerous,” Manjoume interrupted.

Shou and Kenzan’s faces darkened.

“We didn’t mean by someone in the city,” Kenzan said, cryptically.

“What.”

“The way he looks at you weirds me out,” Shou muttered, “It’s like he wants to… eat you up or something…”

“That is totally ridiculous,” Manjoume snapped. He was tired and so not about listening to Shou and Kenzan being paranoid right now. And they were just being paranoid. If Judai looked at him the way he looked at food that he was about to chow down on, he’d know, because Judai looked ridiculous when he was about to chow down and it was a pretty noticeable expression.

He left Shou and Kenzan quickly, slamming the door on his and Judai’s side and locking it ASAP, because he had no doubt that they’d try and follow him through to “protect” him or something. He could take care of himself, tyvm.

“What did Shou and Kenzan want?” Judai asked.

“I thought you’d be able to hear.”

“I could,” Judai said, flicking through one of the pamphlets that had been left in the hotel room about the city. “I just wanted to know if you’d tell me.”

Manjoume glared at him coolly. Judai was being difficult on purpose, and Manjoume wasn’t about that life. He’d be difficult too then!! “Well, I was going to tell you, but now I won’t.”

He turned to his bed, where his suitcase still lay. He unzipped it and sorted through the clothes within, finding his pajamas, since he was going to bed, goodnight everyone. Just as he found them and tugged them out, Judai spoke again.

“Do you ever think about it?” Manjoume looked over at him, wondering wtf he was talking about. Judai was giving him a serious stare. “Sex.”

Manjoume was so shocked that he could almost feel his soul leave his body. He was silent, staring at Judai as if he had just asked him if he had ever considered MURDERING ASUKA. That’s how drastic this was. “Of course not!” Manjoume sputtered loudly after a long silence wherein he tried to find his voice. He turned away quickly, looking down at his luggage, even though he had already found was he was looking for. He sifted through the clothes anxiously. “H-have you?”

There was a stretch of quiet, then a mysterious, “Who knows.”

That was ENOUGH for Manjoume. He whipped his clothes up from the bed and gripped them tightly, wrinkling them lots probably. “I’m getting changed in the bathroom where you won’t be able to look at me and think about PERVERTED things,” he said, keeping his voice level just in case Kenzan and Shou were listening in, which they probably were, because he didn’t want them bursting in. Judai did not seem offended by Manjoume’s escape route to the bathroom, and was already taking off his clothes and getting ready for bed before Manjoume even slammed the bathroom door behind him.

He dropped the pajamas to the floor and crouched down, clutching at his head. What the fresh hell? Sex? What was Judai talking about? Was THAT what Shou had meant? That Judai looked at him like he wanted to have SEX with him?!!??!?!?!!???!! Mother of god.

He lowered his head so it was resting on his knees. His face felt red hot. Even the prospect of something like that was preposterous to Manjoume. Not that he had NEVER thought about sex, just...never with Judai...and especially not with Judai while they were still body swapped. As much as Manjoume Thunder loved Manjoume Thunder, he did not want to have sex with HIMSELF. That’d be weird.

He quickly changed into his pjs and became the bad man in pajamas. He brushed his teeth, too, because he didn’t want to leave the bathroom yet. He kinda wished Shou and Kenzan had fought harder for him and Judai to be split up, because his heart was beating nervously in his chest and he didn’t think it was going to stop anytime soon.

He self consciously slunk out of the bathroom, shutting the door quietly behind him. Judai was already stretched out on the bed, his arms up above his head. His eyes were shut, and Manjoume thought he was asleep and thanked the lords above for this opportunity. He walked over to his bed with his folded up clothes and placed them into his suitcase. When he was zipping up his suitcase, he stole a couple of glances over to Judai, who was still laying there restfully, unmoving. Though it was his own body laying there, Manjoume could imagine it being Judai’s from the casual pose alone. It was frustrating that they were like this - stuck in each others bodies - when they were dating. Even though Manjoume knew it was Judai behind the face he was so used to seeing in the mirror, it was still skeevy to smooch himself…

He walked over on tiptoes, careful not to wake Judai up. He hovered over him, looking down at his face. Literally, his face. He reached down and grazed his fingers across Judai’s cheek, resting them near his lips. It felt like butterflies were absolutely destroying his insides with all that FLUTTERING they were doing. He felt lightheaded as he bent down, pressing his lips to the sleeping boy’s.

Syke! Judai reached up and wrapped an arm around Manjoume, dragging him down onto the bed rather ungracefully, his legs knocking against Judai’s as he fell loosely on top of the SUPPOSEDLY sleeping boy. Manjoume tried to scramble away, but Judai held him close, smiling amusedly. Manjoume finally settled down after he had rolled off of Judai and onto the bed beside him, even though Judai’s arm was still pinning him down.

“I-I thought you were asleep,” Manjoume sputtered, feeling SO EMBARRASSED for being caught doing something so…….so………………...romantic. Kissing the person you like while they were sleeping? How awfully STEREOTYPICAL.

Judai laughed. The sound of it made Manjoume’s skin crawl. “Want to sleep together?” Manjoume gaped  at how FORWARD Judai was, his heart beating loudly in his ears. Before Manjoume could explode like a nuclear bomb and take out Judai with him, Judai corrected himself. “I won’t do anything dirty. I just want to cuddle.”

Cuddle… the wires in Manjoume’s brain sparked to life and he realized what Judai’s innocent request was. He definitely had to get his mind out of the gutter. “As long as you promise not to do anything,” Manjoume muttered. The weight of Judai’s arm on him was distracting, but he didn’t dislike it.

“Promise,” Judai said.

“Pinkie promise,” Manjoume said quickly.

Judai hooked his pinkie with Manjoume’s, chuckling. “Pinkie promise. Jeez, Manjoume. Chillax.”

Manjoume knew that he could probably trust Judai not to do anything FISHY, but he couldn’t help being apprehensive. Plus, by now, he was feeling tiredness creeping into his bones, and he didn’t really feel like moving. He was dozing off already when Judai reached over to turn off the light.

 

 


	21. Chapter 21

In the middle of the night, Manjoume was awake. Awake and alarmed. He had slept for a good two hours before waking up, his back basically engulfed by Judai. He felt dizzy while he was surrounded by him. It was too warm, too close, and too dark for SPOONING. Especially since Manjoume felt his body reacting strangely to being this close to Judai. It made him plain ol’ UNCOMFORTABLE.

But what made Manjoume MORE mad was that he was the LITTLE spoon. He supposed it was because Judai (currently in Manjoume’s body) was taller than him so he fit better as a little spoon, but he did not like the submissive position of the little spoon. He was real pissed. But how was he gonna turn this around in his favor? Not easily.

So he decided to get some ADVICE. A cell phone materialized out of thin air (jk it was actually sitting on the bedside table that he could reach) and he scrolled through the contacts, wondering who he could text for advice at this late, late hour. He assumed Misawa was asleep, dreaming about math and other nerd shit, and he would NEVER text Shou or Kenzan. Asuka would likely be asleep too, like the good, stable human she was. Maybe Fubuki was awake, but if he was, Ryo was too, and Manjoume was NOT about getting Shou’s weird older brother involved.

He settled on texting a desperate message to Edo, who he thought may have a time difference and be awake, wherever he was, and ready to answer some texts. He probably spelled some things wrong, as his arm was hindered from movement from Judai’s hanging over him, but he was sure Edo got the message.

After the longest minute of Manjoume’s life, the phone gave off a little buzz. Manjoume opened the message faster than you could say (dk voice) oo.

_Is this Manjoume?_

Of course it was Manjoume! Would JUDAI message things such as “help me edo” or “im stuck”? No, he wouldn’t. Manjoume responded accordingly.

_What do you want? I have to leave soon. This better be good. Isn’t it late?_

It annoyed Manjoume how curt and business-like Edo was ALL THE TIME. Especially when Manjoume was in CRISIS mode.

‘I’m in Judai’s bed,’ Manjoume typed, feeling his ears heat up just at typing the message. ‘He’s spooning me.’

 _Congrats_ , came the response. It was NOT the one Manjoume was looking for. He watched as Edo typed another message immediately afterwards. _Why does this involve me?_

Annoyed, Manjoume typed, ‘I’m the little spoon!’

_Adorable._

Now Manjoume was REALLY annoyed. Damn you Edo Phoenix. Why did you have to be so sassy? ‘I don’t want to be. It’s embarrassing. I’d rather be the big spoon.’

There was a few minutes of no response from Edo, then came a very blunt _Are you two actually dating?_

He hadn’t actually realized that Edo probably hadn’t known. Manjoume barely knew half the time, even though sometimes he did randomly remember that Judai was his boyfriend and get all flustered and mess up whatever he was doing. ‘Yes, now help me!!!’

 _Just turn around_. Edo said. It made Manjoume mad that HE hadn’t thought of that! It was so SIMPLE! He’d just roll over, take Judai by the shoulders, and roll THAT guy over! It’d be the perfect crime! He gripped the phone in his hand and rolled over.

He evidently forgot that Judai had an arm slung over him, also that rolling over meant he would be closer to Judai than ever, because when he rolled over, he found himself nose to nose with the boy with a heavy arm pinning him in place more than he had been before.

Manjoume wriggled the phone up so it was between him and Judai’s faces. Edo had texted him since he had told him what to do. _Did it work?_

‘Of course it didn’t work now I’m basically KISSING him!!!’ Manjoume texted furiously. His spelling was atrocious now because he could barely see the screen, also his nose was pressing up against it and throwing everything off. This was so bad.

 _haha lmao_. He could almost HEAR Edo laughing, that fuckin smug asshole…………. _Why does this bother you so much? Aren’t you dating?_

Manjoume could not believe what he was reading. This bothered him because he was so CLOSE to the guy he was dating! Who WOULDN’T be uncomfortable with that? Judai felt so close that he could almost taste him, literally. If he stuck out his tongue he’d be lickin Judai’s face. And that, my friends, is WAY too close.

Edo texted him again. _Have you guys kissed?_

It seemed weirdly invasive of Edo to ask, but he did not have the wiggle room to give sassy replies. ‘Yeah’

_Have you gone to second base?_

Manjoume laughed nastily, then quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, hoping that Judai would not wake up and realize the EMBARRASSING POSITION THEY WERE IN. Luckily, Judai did not seem like he was gonna wake up any time soon. He was even drooling a little. Fuckin disgusting.

‘Of course not. Why would we? Neither of us have BOOBS, Edo. What’s the point in second base? Touch each other’s ribcages?’

Actually, the thought of touching Judai’s naked torso was strangely enticing to Manjoume, not that he’d ever admit that to anyone, especially not to Judai, ESPECIALLY NOT TO EDO!!! He’d seen him countless times before without a shirt on, especially since it was HIS body, but imagining it in a more...private location caused a small panic within him.

Edo did not answer for a long time, which forced Manjoume to find solace somewhere else. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anywhere else he could look to for any sort of comfort. The ojama trio were gigglin up a sTORM, and winged kuriboh was just shakin his head, obviously disappointed. fuckin duel spirits, man.

His last hope was Edo, and his eyes flicked back to his phone as it lid up. He read Edo’s reply:

_guess youll just have to skip to 3rd base then rofl_

Damn you Edo!!! YOU ARE NO HELP AT ALL!!!!!!! brb i gotta go get dinner

ok im back

Manjoume was about to give that son of a bitch a real piece of his mind, but Judai snorted and looked dangerously close to waking up, so he calmed himself down and typed, “whatever, thanks for NOTHING,” then slamjammed the phone back down on the bedside table, where the screen lit up with another reply. Against his better judgement, Manjoume checked it.

u mad bro, lol?

No, he wasn’t mad, he was FURIOUS! Edo had been no help at all, and then, to add insult to injury, he’d totally memed on him. Damn that tricky Edo Phoenix. Manjoume was in a sourer mood than ever, and he wasn’t sure if it got better or worse when he got a new message from Edo.

By the way, have you heard from Saiou? He says he wants to visit Duel Academia again.

Manjoume made a face like :0, and texted back, when?

I don’t know. Soon, he says. He wants to visit you and Judai, though I can’t imagine why.

Manjoume’s mind immediately began to race. He couldn’t wait to see Saiou, so he could give him a big hug and say how much he’d missed him - NOT! More likely he’d grab him by the collar and ask him why the hell they hadn’t switched back yet. Hadn’t they done what he’d said? Found true love?!?!?!

Whoa, back up a bit, Thunder. Had he just said that Judai and he had found TRUE LOVE? Obviously that wasn’t right. But how could they go from… whatever they had now… to true love? With that question preying on his mind, he texted Edo again.

What do you think true love is?

Dude, I’m like fifteen. I don’t know.

Manjoume frowned.

Why don’t you tell Judai you love him? Came Edo’s next text, and before Manjoume could tell him how ridiculous that idea was, he’d followed it up with, Anyway, I’ve got to go to sleep. Good luck, or whatever.

Manjoume couldn’t believe what Edo had told him to do. Tell Judai he loved him? When he had conditioned himself to tell Judai how much he HATED HIM whenever the other opened his mouth? Please. And even if he could do it, how was he meant to bring it up? That wasn’t just something you just SAID to someone. Come on.

But then… what if that was the key to kicking their relationship up a notch from what it was now to True Love? He should probably say “I love you” before exploring any of the other possibilities - because if true love meant touchin Judai’s baloney, they were going to be in each other’s bodies for a long, long time.

So he’d made up his mind. He’d try saying he loved Judai - “try” being the key word in this sentence.

* * *

 

When Manjoume finally fell asleep, it was from sheer exhaustion rather than anything else, and when he woke up, he was completely disorientated. His legs were tangled up in something, and it took him a moment to realise that that something was JUDAI’S LEGS. Immediately he was very embarrassed, because if he’d woken up nestled into Judai’s chest, that meant he’d spent the whole night like that! Manjoume wanted to DIE!

But it was about to get even worse. Because Judai was awake!!! When Manjoume looked up, he was GRINNING RIGHT BACK AT HIM!!!!!!!!!!!

Manjoume was having a bad morning. But it was about to get DOUBLE WORSE.

“Were you having a nice dream?” Judai asked, and the coy tone his voice took on made Manjoume suspicious.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Judai shifted slightly, and Manjoume sucked in a breath when his leg pressed against his crotch. This was the worst morning he- no, that anyone had ever had in the history of mornings.

“Were you dreaming about me?” Judai asked, leaning in for a kiss. Manjoume shoved him away roughly, then awkwardly rolled over to face the other wall, curling in on himself. Judai did not take the hint. He shuffled closer to Manjoume once more, his head propped up on the other’s shoulder. “You better not have been dreaming about Asuka. But if you were, I won’t be mad, just disappointed.”

“I wasn’t dreaming about anyone, idiot!” Manjoume hissed, “It’s just… hard… okay… stop talking about it.”

He knew Judai knew that, of course. Really, it had just been bad luck that Manjoume had been the one to wake up in this condition - if it had been Judai, Manjoume would have been understanding (and by understanding I mean completely mortified, but at least he wouldn’t have ACKNOWLEDGED it. not that Judai would have the good grace to be embarrassed by it). Judai was only teasing Manjoume to get him worked up, and Manjoume knew that, but it didn’t stop him from getting to him.

“It’s completely normal,” he snapped, “For a boy of my age-”

“Yeah, yeah. You sound like a sex ed teacher, you know.” Judai was quiet, and for a blissful, naive moment, Manjoume thought that he’d let the subject drop. But then: “Do you want me to help you out with it?”

Manjoume elbowed him so hard he FLEW OUT OF THE BED. Jk, he was lyin pretty close to the edge so he hadn’t had to hit him that hard, but it still had been a pretty hard elbowin.

“Don’t touch me,” Manjoume clutched the covers around himself protectively. “Pervert.”

There was a thumping sound, and it took Manjoume a moment to realise what had made it. Someone in the other room had obviously overheard what was going on and tried to FLY THROUGH to protect their aniki, before being stopped by the door being shut and locked on Manjoume and Judai’s side. Manjoume hadn’t realised that they’d been loud enough to be overheard in the other room, and he buried his face in the sheets he clutched around him. This was humiliating.

A moment after the first attempt at entering, the door on their side BURST OPEN, and Kenzan barrelled through. It seemed they’d had to bring out the big guns (the big guns were Kenzan’s muscles, bang bang) to get into the room, and Kenzan looked absolutely livid. So did Shou when he followed behind him.

“Aniki!” Shou said, his tiny arms crossed over his tiny chest, “Are you alright?! We heard your cries of distress!”

Manjoume hoped that Shou was exaggerating and that they hadn’t ACTUALLY been cries of distress he’d made. He’d thought of them as pretty stern admonishments, but he guessed they sounded different to outside ears. He gave a withering sigh.

“It’s fine. It’s fine. It was a misunderstanding-”

“MANJOUME!” Kenzan yelled, and Manjoume feared for his life for a moment before he realised oh, right, he wasn’t shouting at him. Instead he’d crossed the room in two big steps (Kenzan has very long legs, like a classic shoujo boy) and grabbed Judai by the scruff of his neck, yankin him to his feet. “You better not be doing anything BAD to aniki, I’ll punch  you so hard I’ll send you back to the jurassic era!!!”

“It’s fine, Kenzan,” Manjoume tried to say in his most soothing voice, even though everything was absolutely not fine. Kenzan seemed to relax a lil though, and at least he put Judai down, and at least Judai managed not to laugh even though he obviously desperately wanted to. Manjoume didn’t think there was anything he could have done to save Judai’s soul if he had laughed.

Shou was quiet this whole time, and Manjoume had been so distracted by Kenzan being noisy that he hadn’t even noticed that Shou was scoping out the room until he asked, “Why was only one bed slept in?”

“Uh,” Manjoume swallowed, glancing to Judai, who just shrugged as if to say ‘cat’s outta the bag’. Manjoume was not one to give up such a JUICY TIDBIT OF INFORMATION like them having slept together to Shou, though. “Manjoume… made his bed when he got up…?”

“Aniki!” Shou cried, “Don’t LIE to me! YOu slept together? We were right next door and you SLEPT TOGETHER?”

Both Shou and Kenzan looked wounded, which was a major overreaction, IMO. Now he wasn’t just embarrassed, he was embarrassed and ANGRY! wtf! it wasn’t any of their business who he slept with. Especially since SLEEPING had been all they’d done, there wasn’t even any juicy goss here.

“I’m sorry that I slept with my boyfriend, who I am DATING,” he said, a lil tersely. Judai looked kinda smug at Manjoume assertin their relationship status like that, but Manjoume had no time to think about how he’d just said the B word (boyfriend, not boops). He got up (his boner was completely gone after this unsexy display of overprotectiveness on Shou and Kenzan’s parts) and hurried them out of the room.

“Get out so I can get changed! Shoo!”

They seemed to give in at that point, even with such a stupid excuse. Once the door between the two rooms was slammed and locked, he turned to Judai.

“You too.”

“What? This is my room too. Go change in the bathroom if you don’t want me to look,” Judai said pointedly, falling back onto the bed so he could chill. “It’s not like I’ve not seen it all before, anyway. It’s my body.”

“But I’m in it,” Manjoume seethed. Judai was missing the point on purpose, and it pissed him off.

“So if you don’t want me looking at the body you’re in, is it okay for me to look at the one I’m in?”

“Don’t you dare.”

“It’s hard to get dressed with my eyes shut,” Judai said. Manjoume chose to ignore him. This conversation was going round in circles, and he was not gonna reply and let it go another ten laps round that track.

Judai showed no sign of moving, and Manjoume was too stubborn to retreat to the bathroom again, so he turned his back to him and decided to change out of his PJs then and there. Thankfully he had laid out his clothes the night before. He was halfway through changing into his school uniform so he could become the bad man in the osiris red jacket when Judai said, “Sorry I teased you earlier.”

“Whatever,” Manjoume muttered, tugging a t-shirt over his head. “I didn’t care.”

“No, you did. I shouldn’t have made a big deal out of it.” He sounded genuinely sorry, so Manjoume guessed he could forgive him, though he would NOT forget it.

He was buttoning up his uniform jacket and hoping this would be the end of the conversation, but Judai was not so merciful.

“I don’t know. It’s just, I mean, nobody’s ever been in our situation before, so I’m not sure what’s ALLOWED or not… like, if I wake up like that, am I allowed to-”

“No,” Manjoume snapped, interrupting him, and when Judai made to continue anyway, he clamped his hands over his ears. “No, no, no, no, we are not having this conversation, ABSOLUTELY NOT.”

“I mean, I’ve just been waiting it out, but sometimes I’m already running late to class and it’d just be easier to hurry it up-”

“JUDAI,” Manjoume’s voice was slightly strangled as he cut him off again. “I don’t know how I can make this any clearer. You are not allowed to touch my dick, under any circumstances- except to pee, I guess, but even then-”

“Manjoume,” Judai said, and made a hush hush motion with his finger, nodding to the other room. Manjoume pressed his lips together, suddenly aware of how loud his voice was, and Judai continued. “I was kidding about the late for class thing, but it’s good to set up boundaries, I guess.”

It pissed Manjoume off how flippantly he’d disregarded how angry he’d made him, but he guessed that was just a part of Judai’s personality. But it still annoyed him, how he played everything off as a joke! Manjoume was NEVER going to say I love you at this rate.

“Sorry,” Judai shuffled to the edge of the bed and grabbed Manjoume round the waist in a hug.

“No you’re not,” Manjoume grumbled, and went to swat away Judai’s hands.

“I am. I really do love you, you know.”

Manjoume’s hands froze in the middle of their swat prep, and instead settled to rest over Judai’s.

“Don’t guilt trip me into not being pissed off at you,” he warned.

“I’m not. Be pissed off at me anyway. I was being an ass,” Judai nuzzled into the small of Manjoume’s back, and Manjoume was like what the eff. What Judai would say next would take them to even further levels of what the eff, tho. “You should move into my room. Or, like, back into your own room. I don’t know how to say it.”

Manjoume broke away then, turning to eye Judai like he was CRASY.

“What?”

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean, I liked sharing a bed with you, and you have that huge king-sized one - even if you didn’t wanna cuddle at night, there’s still plenty of room for the two of us.”

“Judai,” Manjoume said, struggling to keep his voice level. “If we do that, everyone’s going to think we’re sleeping together.”

“Well, we are, aren’t we?” Judai replied, and Manjoume wanted to punch him for playing dumb.

“You know what I mean,” he muttered, turning to pack his PJs back into his bag. They were heading home today, and Manjoume was determined to be READY and PREPARED for when they had to get on the boat back to duel school. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea. And I’m not- I don’t want to-”

He was struggling to find the right words. He didn’t want to say it in a way that made him seem like he was scared, because Manjoume Thunder feared neither man or god or the possibility of hanky panky while sharing a bed with his boyfriend, but the thought didn’t exactly inspire good feelings.

“It’s okay not to be ready,” Judai said, with a shrug, and it bothered Manjoume that he seemed completely unaffected by the rejection. He was enthusiastic about kissing, sure, but every other part of their relationship he seemed to be passive about. Why did Manjoume feel like he was the only one who put thought into the things they did together?

The idea that Judai was just using him to experiment lingered at the back of his mind. It seemed preposterous, because with their bodies swapped it was weird enough that Judai wanted any physical intimacy with him, let alone a relationship based entirely around that… but then, that was the way things seemed to be. Judai said stuff like “I love you”, but he said stuff that he didn’t mean all the time. He threw himself into things and got way overexcited about them and then his interest fizzled out as soon as he’d moved onto something else.

It annoyed Manjoume that he was self-conscious enough to let it get to him, but he couldn’t help but wonder if he was another one of Judai’s phases. If he didn’t put out, would Judai get bored of him? He shoved the thought to the back of his mind, where it would fester for a day or two then come back to eat at him, and turned to Judai.

“It’s fine. I’m fine,” he said, managing to sound somewhat normal. “Let’s go get breakfast.”

[i don't know why but there was a link to this video at the end of the doc we wrote this fic in so i'm putting it here for authenticity's sake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbHxwFxdXXc)

 


	22. Chapter 22

Manjoume was brooding. Brooding more than you could even believe. This brooding was legendary.

What was he brooding about? You guessed it, Judai Yuki. He was sitting in Judai’s dorm room at Osiris Red, lounging on the couch. He was lucky that he, Manjoume Thunder, had built such a wondrous dorm room so close to the normal dorms.

The only bad part about it was that Judai was around, but wasn’t paying attention to Manjoume. Ever since they had gotten back from Domino City, the entire school was under the impression that Judai and Manjoume were mackin and doin other things (XXX things in case you don’t catch my drift) on a regular basis. Manjoume had all but been kicked out of he and Shou’s room, since Shou was “afraid that he’d bring Manjoume back”. Understandable - Manjoume wouldn’t want to be sleeping underneath Shou on their bunk beds if Shou was mackin with some girl up there.

What was less understandable was that Judai left the official Obelisk Blue dorms for the private one by Osiris Red. It made Manjoume mad to think about, because there were so many unanswered questions revolving around it. Judai had told him that he wanted to keep Manjoume company, but Manjoume knew there was some kinda ulterior motive behind that.

But he wasn’t brooding because he and Judai had been isolated to this room. He was brooding because, since they had gotten back, Judai had been less...touchy than he was during their field trip. It made Manjoume nervous. Did the rumors about them doin the do make Judai uncomfortable? Had he done something wrong since they returned? Maybe Manjoume was remembering wrong, but he was convinced that Judai was more touchy-feely before they left for the trip, too. Maybe on the boat ride back he had an epiphany that Manjoume was not all that great. It made Manjoume MAD!!

What made him even madder was that HE WAS SO MAD! He kept getting anxious, imagining Judai losing interest in him. If you had asked him a week ago if the thought of Judai losing interest in him was bad, he would have laughed in your face cuz it would have been the best thing since sliced bread (and Manjoume loved sliced bread - it was, after all, where delicious toast came from). But now was a totally different story.

He tapped his foot antsily. He could hear Judai outside, talking to someone. He had never noticed how popular Judai had made him. Since when did people go out of their way to talk to Manjoume? Nobody ever did that when HE was in that body, and HE was Manjoume himself!! He tapped his foot faster, waiting for Judai to just enter the goddamn room already.

Finally, after Manjoume had ground at least three sets of teeth down to nubs, Judai entered the room, saying goodbye to whoever it was he was talking to.

“Who was that?” Manjoume asked a lil testily.

“Huh?” Judai looked surprised, then leapt over that stupid railing thing and landed right on the couch next to Manjoume. What a master of parkour. There was a definite gap between them, which Manjoume was highly aware of, but he excused it because Judai had just fuckin vaulted over a railing. “Oh, it was nobody. Some Obelisk blue guy. I think he’s your friend? Was?”

Manjoume scowled. “I have lots of friends in Obelisk.”

“Hm,” Judai hummed, looking away. He was doin that on PURPOSE!! Manjoume was getting steamed. There was a pause, then Judai stood up from the couch before Manjoume could do anything about it, though. “Anyway, he was coming to tell me about a meeting over at the blue dorms. I should probably actually get going.”

“If you have to leave, why did you bother sitting down,” Manjoume snapped, and Judai shrugged vaguely, and then vaulted himself back up again over the railing and peaced out. Dueces.

What in tarnation was going on here?! Manjoume stood, feeling restless. Judai had definitely been purposely not touching him then. He would have even preferred Judai to fuckin crash into his lap than he would have to Judai landing a good foot away from him on the couch. It was so obviously distant. And it drove Manjoume insane!!!

He had to ask someone about what this meant. What did Judai’s weird behavior mean? Because it was MAKING MANJOUME NERVOUS!!!

But who would he ask? He would rather die than ask Edo for advice again, that smug fucker…………...with his rofls and lols and ha has………………. He definitely couldn’t go to Kenzan or Shou, who were puttin some space between themselves and their aniki. He could potentially go to Asuka, but would she understand the intricate details of love? Unlikely. Her only love was dueling.

That left one last possibility…………………...Fubuki!

Though he should have been going to that Obelisk Blue meeting that Judai mentioned, Manjoume fuckin knew that he wasn’t going to be. When did Fubuki do anything school related ever? Dude just surfed all the time. So Manjoume went on the soich for Fubuki. He just had to know why Judai was being so insistently distant with him!

* * *

 

Luckily for Manjoume, Fubuki was as predictable as 2+2. Manjoume could hear his ukulele from about a mile away.  The dude was chilling in the woods, like a total weirdo, but Manjoume was glad for the guy’s isolation.

“J-man,” Fubuki said as Manjoume tripped out of the trees. He strummed a few happy chords. “Long time no see. Haven’t seen much of you since the party.”

Manjoume grimaced. Though he had tried to forget, he hadn’t been able to forget that EMBARRASSING display. He sniffed back the embarrassment though and squared his shoulders. “Manjoume and I are dating.”

“So I hear,” Fubuki said, smiling dreamily as he played a little ditty. Manjoume was forced to stand there and listen to it until Fubuki decided enough was enough. “I also hear you two were late to the hotel over the field trip. Ooh la la, Judai. Romantic night in Domino?”

Manjoume turned red from head to toe. Who the heck had told HIM that?! Oh well, it didn’t matter now - he’d have found out sooner or later. He slunk down onto the grass in front of Fubuki. “I’m not here to talk about that. Well, I kind of am.”

Fubuki nodded for Manjoume to continue.

“Ever since we got back from the field trip, Manjoume’s been really weird. He tells me he loves me all the time, and...and, well, since we’ve been back, he’s been really distant.”

“Distant?” Fubuki said, looking up with a spark of seriousness in his eyes. “Like how?”

“He won’t...uh, touch me anymore,” Manjoume said. He felt awkward saying it out loud like that - as if HE’D care if Judai stopped touching him! If anything, he should be happy…

Fubuki leaned back, looking thoughtfully up at the clear blue sky, as if drawing down power and ideas from the heavens themselves. Manjoume watched him expectantly. “Are you worried that he still loves you?” Manjoume felt his blood run cold. Hearing it coming from someone else made it feel like more of a possibility. He nodded slowly. “Man, if that guy ruins everything I did to help him get you...he’s a real dummy. Gonna need more romance lessons from me, stat.”

“But what should I do?” Manjoume stressed.

“Communication, J-man, is key.” Fubuki nodded sagely. “Communication. Tell him how you feel. Maybe he’s just hesitant because he thinks you’re not interested.”

Not interested? Manjoume’s mind rewound all the way back to the hotel room, where he had told Judai to stop touching him. Was that what he meant? Was Judai insulted because he had told him to not even think about touching him like that? WAS JUDAI MAD THAT HE WASN’T PUTTING OUT?

Manjoume bit at a nail nervously. If that was it, then he’d really screwed the pooch there. Maybe Judai was only still dating him because he was hoping this was true love, and would switch them back to their own bodies without Saiou’s voodoo magic. But if Judai was falling out of love with him…

Fubuki must have noticed Manjoume’s mini panic attack, because he started playing a happy lil tune to raise his spirits. “Don’t worry, J-dude. You only worry so much because you really care about him, maybe even love him. I am the love doctor after all - I know these things.”

Love? Manjoume scowled, standing up. “Thanks, Fubuki,” he said, leaving the dude alone in the woods to do as he pleased, whatever it was Fubuki pleased. He had a new plan. A plan on how to get Judai INTO him again. It would definitely NOT fail, unlike his last plan. Trust me on this one.

  



	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for light smexual content, nothing graphic

Manjoume waited until the night time, waiting in a crouched position by the door for Judai to appear.

This plan was flawless. He was going to make the first move for the first time in their relationship, probably. He was gonna kiss him, was gonna force him to be close to him again, to see what happened. If Judai shoved him back, that’d be his answer about whether or not Judai felt uncomfortable touching him now. But if he didn’t….well, then Manjoume didn’t know what. He didn’t think that far ahead.

So he was crouching by the door, waiting for the pounce. It was gonna be the most epic pounce you’ve ever seen, you won’t believe this pounce, it’s legendary. When the door creaked open, Manjoume wiggled just like a cat did before the jump, and when Judai entered the room, Manjoume did it. He jumped up, grabbing Judai.

They both fell to the floor in a tumbling mess of limbs. Judai let out a yelp, struggling against the weirdo who had just jumped him, before realizing it was Manjoume. “Manjoume? What the hell-”

“Shut up,” Manjoume growled, kissing Judai roughly, their teeth clicking awkwardly. Judai made a surprised noise beneath Manjoume, his eyes wide as Manjoume went to town. Manjoume, actually, had no idea what he was doing, so this was getting embarrassing fast. He quickly brought his head back up and glared down at Judai.

“M-Manjoume,” Judai said breathlessly, still shocked. “Why-”

Manjoume began to babble, his words coming out uncontrollably. “I noticed you were being weird. I notice everything. I don’t know why you did it, but I was really hurt, okay? Was it something I did? Are you falling out of love with me? Because I’d hate you if you did that, I’d really hate you. I’d hate you more than I already do.” He paused, not realizing that he had begun to cry. He choked back a sigh and wiped at his face. “Please don’t break up with me, Judai. When I thought about you breaking up with me, I got so angry. I think I’m…...I think I love you. Shit…” He paused again, his tears overcoming him. He curled inwards on top of Judai, forgetting that the other boy was beneath him, staring at him with wide eyes.

“Manjoume,” Judai said, pulling himself slightly out from underneath the boy on top of him so he could prop himself up on his shoulders. “Don’t cry.”

“I’m not crying,” Manjoume blubbered, even tho we all know that a lie.

Judai reached up and brushed the wet streaks on Manjoume’s face away. “You’re being really silly, you know that?” Manjoume looked at him through watery eyes and Judai smiled affectionately. He looked like he wanted to tell Manjoume that he was overreacting, but he refrained from doing that because Manjoume may melt down if he did that. “You’ve got it all wrong.”

“Wh- what?” Manjoume stuttered. What did this bozo mean, he got it all wrong?

“I was trying not to touch you because you seemed like you didn’t like it,” Judai explained. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable...I love you, after all.”

Manjoume felt, as Judai put it, ‘silly’. He was practically burnin up from embarrassment. So it had been a stupid misunderstanding after all, and all on his part? Wtf. Thanks a lot obama. Judai’s hand caressing his face slid down his neck, and suddenly he was acutely aware of how he was basically straddling the other dude.

“Well, sorry,” Manjoume muttered, guessing it was better to apologize for his foolishness and get the heck out of there asap. He went to scramble away to hide his SHAME over this MISUNDERSTANDING, but Judai’s hand caught on his wrist, keeping him there.

“Say it again.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” Judai said, his expression foreign to Manjoume. Was it………..sexy? Was Judai looking at him...sexily? Manjoume gaped at him wordlessly, the feeling of Judai’s hand around his wrist scorching him.

“Wh- wh- wh- wh- what,” Manjoume said feebly, unable to find his voice. In his mind, he sorted through the things he had said during his rambling/crying/general idiocy session, desperately trying to find what to say that would make Judai stop so Manjoume could run away. When his mind clicked onto him sayin the “big three words”, his mouth went dry. Ruh roh, Ranjoume. “I…” he said nervously, licking at his lips. “I have to go to the bathroom,” he tried, slipping out of Judai’s grasp and standin up. He nearly got away with it, too, if Judai hadn’t been so quick on his feet and had captured Manjoume from behind with a hug.

Judai’s breath was hot on his ear when he spoke. “You won’t get away that easily, Manjoume.”

Manjoume shivered nervously. “I refuse,” he said stubbornly, crossing his arms. He would not give into Judai’s demands. That was just against everything Manjoume knew. Judai nuzzled up against his neck, and Manjoume’s resolve wavered slightly. “Judai…”

“I won’t stop until you say it again.” Judai said, his arms around Manjoume becoming less of a hug and more of them wandering all over him, which was a huge distraction to Manjoume that he was barely listening to Judai. “Here, I’ll go first: I loooove you Manjoume. I love you. I love you lots. I love you more than dueling- okay, maybe not that much. I love you a lot though-”

“Stop,” Manjoume hissed, but Judai was RELENTLESS. He continued to go on, his voice a low rumble in Manjoume’s ear, about how much he wuvved him. It made Manjoume feel warm, like he had just gotten out of a great long bath. He nervously gulped, pressing gently back against Judai, enjoying his presence. Judai’s hands stopped moving and Manjoume said, quietly- “I think I might love you.” There was a pause. Then, as an afterthought, he added, “or whatever.” Smooth.

“Say it again,” Judai breathed against Manjoume’s neck. Manjoume was like, nope, that was enough. Or at least he thought it, because he couldn’t say anything as Judai planted a kiss on his shoulder. Judai’s hands paused, and his head moved back. It was jarring, since Manjoume was startin to really enjoy Judai’s hands roaming all over him and feeling Judai’s smooches on his skin. “Is this okay? Touching you?”

Manjoume felt himself blushing so badly that his ears were burnin. It was embarrassing, because Judai could PLAINLY SEE how red his ears were, even in the dark dorm room. How fuckin shameful of him. Through gritted teeth, he muttered, “Do what you want,” which was basically his way of saying “sure”.

Judai broke apart from Manjoume, which made Manjoume worry that he had p’d off the big guy, but when he turned to Judai, he looked like he was havin the time of his life.

“Really?” Judai asked childishly, eyes bright.

Manjoume deadpanned. “I said to do what you wanted.”

“Anything?”

“I...said….” Manjoume sputtered nervously as Judai leaned in close, smiling goofily. What kinda trick was this. “I...I said do what you wanted…”

Judai’s goofy smile became DEVIOUS. Judai was good at switching from one emotion to the other quickly - dude was a master of masking his TRUE feelings. Judai grabbed Manjoume’s wrist and pulled at it, yanking him along through the dark dorm. Manjoume’s heart was beating hard in his chest - where were they going? Where was Judai taking him?

He didn’t have much time to think about it before he was pushed down onto the bed in the bedroom. His mind went blank as Judai landed on top of him and smooched him, his hands floating around Manjoume’s chest aimlessly.

A small part of Manjoume’s mind protested against this, still weirded out by the prospect of getting intimate with his own body, but the majority of his mind was all for this, set all engines to go go go. He reached up and wrapped his arms around Judai’s neck, bringing him closer to him. He felt Judai’s fingers brush up against the skin beneath the hem of his shirt, and he gasped at the touch. Judai took it as a sign to keep going and his hand sssssslid up, his palm grazing against Manjoume’s chest. Manjoume’s mind swirled. Was this second base? Is this what Edo was talking about when he said that shit? My god.

Why was he thinking about Edo during this??? He was brought back to reality as Judai kissed him again, his hands rubbin all up on him. Manjoume had no idea why it felt so good - he wasn’t a girl and only GIRLS felt good when they had their chests groped - but it did, and he let out an embarrassing sound here and there whenever Judai would brush over his nipples.

“You’re so cute,” Judai mumbled, which made Manjoume want to die. “Can I take your shirt off?”

“T- take my…” Manjoume sat up a little, blinking nervously. He was going to be shirtless?! Not that it really mattered, since it was Judai’s own chest he would be looking at, but it was...weird...if he was the only person...wouldn’t it? He set his jaw and looked up at Judai with the bravest expression he could muster. “Only if you do it too.”

“Okay,” Judai said quickly, agreeing much faster than Manjoume expected. He watched as Judai threw off his jacket - Manjoume would get mad at him for being so careless with it later - and slowly began to lift his shirt off.

It should have felt weird to see his own body there, but it wasn’t. Maybe they had been like this long enough that he was beginning to get desensitized to seeing his own body in front of him, which would be worrying if he wasn’t so distracted. In any case, the fact that it was his hands that were touching him, that it was Judai’s body they were roaming over, was the last thing on his mind.

For the moment, his thoughts were focused solely on Judai, but even then he wasn’t really fully conscious of what he was doing half the time. Judai was taking charge, really - later, Manjoume would regret letting him take the lead, but Judai was bolder than him and without his influence they wouldn’t get anywhere, really. He was always the one to duck down for another kiss, to let his hands slip wherever they wanted to, and it was making Manjoume feel hot and weird and good.

One of Judai’s hands glid down from his chest across his stomach and hovered over his belt - it was only then that Judai seemed to hesitate, and at the lack of the touch he’d grown used to, Manjoume refocused a little. It was hard to see in the dim light, but Judai looked… hesitant? He was clearly still in the mood- if whatever was pressed against Manjoume’s thigh was any indication of that- but he seemed suddenly unsure.

“Is it okay if I touch… other places…?”

“It’s fine,” Manjoume snapped, and he stunned both himself and Judai with the quickness of his reply.

After recovering from his surprise, Judai grinned and nipped at his neck and his hand fell to grope between Manjoume’s legs. The action took Manjoume by surprise - he’d been expecting something sweet and romantic, not to be manhandled. Judai’s body evidently responded well to that kind of thing, though, and Manjoume bit back a sigh of frustration when Judai suddenly stopped touching him.

“What’s wrong?” Judai asked, his hand resting on the inside of Manjoume’s thigh. It took all of Manjoume’s strength not to grab it and put it back.

“What?”

“You gasped,” Judai said, apparently taking Manjoume’s annoyance the wrong way and removing his hand completely. “Sorry. Was I being too rough?”

“If you ask about every single little thing, we’ll be here all night.”

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Judai grinned as Manjoume took him by the wrist and guided his hand back to his belt, and he took the hint and began to unbuckle Manjoume’s it with sure, steady eyes. Manjoume was envious of his apparent calmness - it took all he had not to shudder whenever Judai touched him, and he couldn’t even look at the other when Judai’s hand slipped into his jeans and past his boxers and he felt him touch him properly, for real, skin against skin. Judai’s breath was hot on his ear, but Manjoume shivered anyway when he said, “Touch me, too.”

Manjoume obliged, and it felt weird. It wasn’t like he hadn’t touched his own dick before, but doing it from the other side as well as watching Judai’s breath hitch as he stroked him was just STRANGE.

His mind didn’t dwell on it for long, though, and there was no denying it was kind of fun, when he got past feeling SO EMBARRASSED HE COULD DIE. He looked everywhere but at Judai, but even though he wouldn’t look at the other’s face, he could feel Judai’s eyes on him. Eventually he buried his face into Judai’s neck, which made his already clumsy movements a little more jerky, but Judai just laughed breathily.

 

When he came in his hand, Judai laughed, and Manjoume glared at him.

“You better not make fun of me,” he grumbled, and Judai shook his head.

“I’m just glad I didn’t get there first,” he said, and though he was teasing, he did sound relieved. Manjoume supposed he would be, too, but he had to remind himself not to make this kind of thing into a competition - but if it was a competition, Judai would have been the loser, because it was his stupid body that had lost.

“You do it so slowly,” Judai said, and Manjoume was so caught up in his internal argument about who was the true victor here that it took him a second to realise what he was talking about.

“Well, excuse me for not yanking at it like I’m trying to pull it off,” he snapped, and squeezed Judai a little harder to illustrate his point. Judai winced.

“I wasn’t complaining,” he whined. “Keep doing it your way.”

* * *

 

Later, Judai was napping on his chest, and Manjoume was desperately seeking an escape route. Not that he didn’t want to just chill, or whatever (though he was kind of offended that Judai had fallen asleep almost immediately after they’d just shared one of the MOST STRESSFUL moment’s of Manjoume’s life, enjoyable or not), but he was too warm in the bed and his head was swimming with thoughts and he needed out, if only for a few minutes.

When he moved Judai roused and caught his wrist, trying to tug him back into bed but lackin the strength in his sleepiness.

“Where y’goin’?” He mumbled, and Manjoume felt guilty for trying to sneak away for a sec.

“I’m just going to shower,” Manjoume said. That wasn’t a complete lie - he did want to wash.

“Oh. Okay.” Judai released his wrist, and for a moment Manjoume thought he was free, but then Judai said, “Come back, okay?” and he knew that he had to, because as annoying as Judai was, he couldn’t really deny him. When had THE Manjoume Thunder gotten so WHIPPED?

In the shower, Manjoume washed the stickiness off his hands and cleaned away what had splattered up his abs, and then just stood, letting the water wash over his shoulders and down his body.

Except it wasn’t his body he was looking at. It was Judai’s. Why was he still in Judai’s body? Shouldn’t they have switched back? If they hadn’t, did that mean they’d done something like that and it hadn’t been true love? Manjoume’s skin crawled. He wasn’t a prude or anything, but he felt kind of… used… to know they’d touched each other like that and it hadn’t been true love. He couldn’t decide if he regretted or not. Eventually he began to shiver in the cold bathroom, even with the hot water falling over him, and he shut off the shower and stepped out of it, wrapping a towel around him.

He could have easily gotten dressed and slipped out of the room then and there. Judai had fallen asleep again, and Manjoume was seriously considering it, but instead he toweled off, grabbed a clean pair of boxers from the chest of drawers in the corner, tugged them on and got into bed. Judai woke up long enough to wrap an arm around him and tug him closer. While wrapped up in Judai’s arms, he decided that he didn’t care about whether or not they switched back just then - he was perfectly happy the way they were in that moment.

gay


	24. Chapter 24

Manjoume woke up to the sound of a ringing phone. It was not a pleasant sound to wake up to, and Judai seemed to agree as he grumbled angrily under his breath.

“Who’s calling you this early,” Manjoume mumbled as Judai reached for the cellphone, rubbin his tired eyes. “What could they possibly want-”

“It’s Saiou!”

Manjoume rocketed up faster than you could say _**delicious**_ toast. Judai put the call on speaker so they could both listen in. “Hello?” Saiou’s voice sounded in the room. Hearing him made Manjoume mad - where has this asshole BEEN this whole time? Tanning on the beach? Getting the best goddamn tan? It’s been like a week that tan must be amazing. There was the faint noise of an engine in the background of Saiou’s end of the call. “Judai?”

“It’s both of us,” Judai said, looking over at Manjoume, who was fighting not to yell right into the receiver.  
“Good. I’m calling you both to let you know that I’m currently coming to Duel Academia.”

WHat!!! Judai and Manjoume looked at each other, shocked. They had no idea that Saiou had even been playing with the idea of coming anytime soon. For all they knew, they were gonna be stuck in each others bodies forever until they found true love…

Manjoume scowled, remembering how he felt last night after they didn’t switch back after the Grand Finale. Though he had accepted that he was okay with it, he wondered why their TRUE LOVE hadn’t swapped them back.

“Good,” he hissed into the phone. Judai looked at him, surprised. “I have some QUESTIONS for you, cat man.”

“Cat man?” Saiou and Judai questioned, but Manjoume did not elaborate. He knew what he was talkin about and thats all that matters.

“I’ll be arriving in around an hour,” Saiou said after getting over the shock of being called a cat man. “Please be prepared to see me...I can’t stay long. I’m still grounded.”

Judai ended the call and placed the phone back on the floor where it had been ditched last night. He rolled back onto the bed, laying an arm over his face. Manjoume looked down at him, his face burning as he looked down upon Judai’s shirtless self. It was perfectly bright out now, so nothing was being hidden anymore. Not even the GROSSNESS that was on his stomach had gone away in the night, which made Manjoume disgusted.

“Go take a shower,” Manjoume said gruffly, looking away when Judai took his arm off of his face. “You’re disgusting. You slept with...that on you all night…”

Judai looked confused, then looked down. “Oh, I guess so. Want to take one with me?”

Manjoume socked Judai in the face for that one, u better believe it.

* * *

 

About half an hour later, they stood together by the docks, waiting for Saiou to show up. Judai kept snaking his hand into Manjoume’s, and each time Manjoume would shake him off. Eventually Manjoume just let him hold his goddamn hand, deciding that he didn’t mind it that much, though he probably would when Saiou showed up and saw them doing it.

“You know,” Judai said as a boat appeared on the horizon, a smile spreading over his face. “Even though we didn’t switch back yesterday or anything, I still think this is true love.”

Manjoume stared at him like he had just admitted to some kind of heinous crime. How the hell did Judai say things like that so easily? He cleared his throat, looking away. “Me too, I guess,” Manjoume muttered. Judai was giving him the cheesiest smile, and it made him embarrassed, but happy. Don’[t tell anyone he said that though.

They walked to the place that the boat approaching was going to dock at just as the gangplank was lowered (how do boats work? idk). The cat man, Saiou himself, appeared wearing sunglasses and a long stylish coat. It made Manjoume mad to see him so fashionable - had he been shopping for clothes while he and Judai struggled to be each other? Edo was there too, much to Manjoume’s distress. He gave him a smirk when their eyes met and Manjoume grimaced.

“I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to get back here,” Saiou said as he walked up to them. He shook Judai’s hand, but Manjoume refused the handshake. There was no handshaking allowed.

Manjoume made DIRECT EYE CONTACT with Saiou, and said, “You lied.”

“What?” Saiou seemed confused. Manjoume wanted to sock him.

“You lied,” Manjoume repeated. “Even though we… found true love… or whatever…” Manjoume felt embarrassed just saying those words, but he forced himself to continue, “We still didn’t change back.”

“True love?” Saiou echoed. He looked over at Edo, and then at Judai, and then up at the sky, then broke into laughter. “You believed that?”

Manjoume felt like he had just gotten kicked in the stomach. “What?”

“I just said that so I had enough time to figure out how to switch you two back,” Saiou said, wiping away his tears of MIRTH. Can you believe that. MIRTH. Manjoume ground his teeth down into tiny nubs for about the 70th time. “And it worked, because now I know how to switch you two back.”

“And we’re in love,” Judai whispered to Manjoume, but Manjoume wasn’t havin it. He felt like a fool!!! He looked over at Edo, who was still smirking smugly, like he had known this whole time. Why was he here anyway? Wasn’t he supposed to be at a big duel tournament? Ugh, Edo.

“Sorry, Manjoume,” Edo said. biiiiiiiiiiitch, hes not sorry. “It was just too funny.”

Manjoume was ready to EXPLODE! Saiou was still smilin, his lil cat fangs poking out as he did. It was weird to see Saiou smiling, but Manjoume was too angry to see any humour in it or in the whole situation.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter,” Saiou said. “Come on, let’s go somewhere we can have a little privacy, and I’ll switch you too back.”

“Good idea,” Judai said. “We can go to Manjoume’s dorm room. C’mon.”

Judai started off leading the way, but when Manjoume trailed behind them he fell back to walk beside them. His hand bumped against Manjoume’s as he tried to take it, but Manjoume was havin none of that and stuffed his hand in his pocket.

“Did you know?” Manjoume asked, casting a glare in Judai’s direction.

“About what? That Saiou was kidding?” Manjoume nodded jerkily. “I don’t know. I guess I thought maybe he wasn’t telling the whole truth. I mean, that kinda thing’s just SO cliche! It just doesn’t happen in real life, you know?” Judai grinned even as Manjoume continued to glare at him. “But I don’t think he was lying that the lovers were in our future. Maybe you took what he said the wrong way with thinking it would solve our problem, but… well, his prediction did come true, right? And don’t you think it’s romantic? It’s like we’re fated to be together.”

“I don’t believe in any of that crap,” Manjoume muttered, although by this point he didn’t really get a choice in believing in magic or fate or anything like that. Who knew coming to a school to learn how to play a card game better would make his life so COMPLICATED.

“Sorry,” Judai said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “I didn’t mean to trick you or anything. I do love you.”

Manjoume blushed, and just muttered, “I know.”

When they got to his dorm room, he realised what a TERRIBLE IDEA Judai suggesting they go there had been. He couldn’t believe Judai hadn’t realised how INCRIMINATING the room looked! He couldn’t believe HE had forgotten! The bed sheets were crumpled and their clothes from last night were scattered all over the room - how had his pants gotten over there?! Edo looked to him, his face a mixture of disgust and amusement, and said a sarcastic, “Nice.”

“Shut up,” Manjoume snapped, and moved to try and rearrange the bedsheets into something respectable.

Saiou cleared his throat, blushing like a school girl even though he was like thirty.

“Anyway,” he said, “I was going to suggest you lie down on the bed, but considering the, ah, situation, maybe it would be better if you just took a seat.”

Judai laughed, and Manjoume was appalled at how utterly shameless he could be. They took a seat in two of the comfy armchairs Manjoume had in his room, and Saiou perched carefully on the coffee table in front of them.

“Now,” Saiou said, “I want you both to close your eyes and concentrate on the sound of my voice.”

They did as they were told, and Saiou began to speak. At first it was in Japanese, but then it seemed to change into another language, one that sounded familiar but which Manjoume couldn’t identify. Eventually it didn’t even seem to be words, just sounds, and the hairs on the back of Manjoume’s neck rose at Saiou’s spooky witchy bs. His head was swimming, and then Saiou said, “Okay. Open your eyes.”

Manjoume did so, and his eyelids felt weirdly heavy. What else was weird was that he was looking at Saiou from… a different angle? Yeah, he definitely hadn’t been sitting on Saiou’s right side before. Which could only mean…!

His head snapped to the right. Judai was sittin there, in his OWN body, rubbing his eyes like he’d just come out of a deep sleep. He took his hands away from his eyes, looked at them, blinked, then turned to face Manjoume, having the good grace to look surprised for once. Manjoume opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted when Judai planted the BIGGEST, WETTEST smooch he’d ever had on his lips.

Manjoume was mortified. This was neither the time or place for this - Saiou had buried his face in his hands and was blushin at the sight of them, and Edo was smirkin up a storm and tapping at his phone, probably tweeting about this embarrassing moment for the whole world to know. What an asshole. Judai did not seem to care. He pushed back Manjoume’s spikes to kiss his forehead, then both of his cheeks, and he’d have gone back to his lips if Manjoume hadn’t finally gathered up his wits enough to push him away.

“What are you doing?”

Judai blinked innocently.

“Sorry. When I saw you in your own body, I just had to,” he said with a shrug. His hands found Manjoume’s, took them, squeezed his fingers. “We’re still going out, right? I mean, now that we’re switched back, you still have to date me. I won’t let you get away with the excuse that you were just going along with it because it might switch us back-”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Manjoume muttered, still holding Judai back at an arm’s length. “Of course we’re still going out.”

Despite his attempts to hold him back, Judai overcame him and pulled Manjoume into a backbreakin hug.

“How sweet,” Edo said, and Manjoume gave him a glare that should have killed him from over Judai’s shoulder. The pro duelist stood, slipped his phone back into his pocket, and said, “Anyway, we’d better go, Saiou.”

“Yes,” Saiou said, standing up, still having trouble meeting Manjoume and Judai’s eyes after their disgusting PDA sesh. “We have to go. My sister is still waiting for us on the boat. She’ll be mad if we’re late.”

“Okay!” Judai said brightly, breaking apart from Manjoume after what felt like a MILLION YEARS. Then he grabbed Manjoume’s hand, pulling him out of the chair. “Come on, let’s go see them off.”

It had been barely an hour, all told, since they had greeted Saiou and Edo at the docks, and here they were again seeing them off. It was surreal, and Manjoume wasn’t quite used to being back in his own body yet. He’d tripped over twice as they’d walked back to the docks, and he still felt a little awkward, but he was relieved to have his own body back. And - though he’d never admit it - he liked being able to see Judai’s face when he looked at it, and to be able to hold his hand instead of his own.

As Edo and Saiou waved to them from the edge of the boat that would ferry them back over to the mainland, Edo leant over and shouted, “Manjoume, check your phone!”

Judai pulled Manjoume’s phone out of his pocket (they still hadn’t swapped back fyi) and opened a text from Edo to reveal a PIC of them CAUGHT IN THE SMOOCHIN ACT! Manjoume would have flew onto the boat and strangled Edo for documenting that moment, but the boat was already chugging away. Choo choo. Damn you, Edo. You win… this time.

“Man, this is cute,” Judai said, “I’m setting it as your background.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“You better not delete it once I give you your phone back.”

“I won’t.” He totally would, thought.

“I’m sending it to Shou just in case.”

“NO!!!!”

* * *

 

From the look on Shou’s face when they got back to the Osiris red dorm, he was not amused.

“Why did you think I’d want that picture, Manjoume?” He asked, his very tiny arms crossed over his very tiny chest. Manjoume shot a dirty glare at Judai. As if the guy hadn’t ruined his reputation enough while he was in his body, he was gonna continue to do so after he’d switched back!

“I sent it,” Judai said, and Shou’s expression softened a little. “Sorry. Edo sent it to me, and I didn’t want Manjoume to delete it. It’s a cute pic, right?”

“Edo was here?” Shou said, apparently completely forgetting the fact that he’d just looked at a pic of his big bro/bff combo kissin his bf. “What? Why didn’t he come here? I would have duelled him with my new deck!”

“He couldn’t stay for long,” Judai said, before changing the subject. “Come on, let’s go get breakfast. We haven’t eaten yet, and I’m starving.”

Just then Kenzan barrelled through the door, cracking his knuckles.

“What’s all this about Manjoume sending pervy pics of aniki?”

“It’s okay!” Judai grinned. “It’s fine, Kenzan! Chill out! Let’s go get some _**delicious**_ toast.”

Kenzan’s anger was quickly forgotten at the mention of _**delicious**_ toast. Together they all walked to the mess hall, and the toast had never tasted so _**delicious** _ to Manjoume.

  



End file.
